The Prequel Novelisation
by Josman
Summary: Title says it all. A novelisation of the 2011 prequel.
1. Prologue

**Author's notes: No official novelisation exists for The Thing prequel, so I thought I'd write an unofficial one. As with Dean Foster's novelisation of the original, I plan to bring the story closer to the original script (as best as I can discern from interviews) before executive meddling spoilt a lot of things (but still left behind a very good film.) I will continue in the new year.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own The Thing, nor any characters involved.**

**All Norwegian dialogue is indicated by italics.**

**Prologue - The Crack in the Ice**

The Antarctic wastes hadn't seen life for millennia. What few creatures had evolved to survive on the continent rarely ventured inland, if at all. Even bacteria could not remain active in the perpetually sub zero temperatures. The only life forms for miles around occupied three seats in a large tracked vehicle as it glided effortlessly across a glacier. An insignificant three man dot in the pristine wilderness.

To the men in the snowcat, exploring lands that no human being had ever set eyes upon had long ceased to amaze them and the mood was little different from any car journey back in Norway.

_"Okay, I've got another one."_ Said the man in the passenger seat. _"A good one."_ He added. _"There's this couple who are making love one night, when they realise that their son's wandered in..."_

The man paused as Lars, the driver, held up a finger to silence him.

_"Hold on." _Said Lars. He turned to the man in the back, who was peering at a collection of signalling devices. _"Olav. Are you sure this is the right way?" _

Olav had discovered some days beforehand that a mysterious signal was interfering with the research station's equipment and had set up several radio receivers and scanners in back of the vehicle in an effort to triangulate the source.

_"Keep going straight, it should be just ahead of us." _He said.

Lars gazed ahead. Surely, he thought, a transmitter that strong would be visible by now. But Lars decided that it wasn't his place to make such objections. Instead, he turned back to Peder, the man next to him, and said _"Continue."_

_"So anyway,"_ said Peder, _"this boy's horrified by what he sees and runs from the room. The mother says "You'll have to talk to him." So the dad goes to look for the boy and finds him in another bed, lying on top of grandma. And they're going up and down, and up and down. So the boy turns to his dad and says "Not so funny when it's your mother is it?"_

Lars laughed. So hard in fact, that he didn't realise Olav was trying to get his attention until he shook Lars by the shoulder and shouted _"Stop!"_ Lars immediately hit the brakes.

_"We're right on top of it." _Said Olav, with just as much disbelief as Lars and Peder felt.

Just then, the three men heard a crunching sound, which Lars knew, from experience, meant that they'd driven onto a patch of fragile ice. Before he could re-engage the engine, the ground beneath them gave way, revealing the mouth of a crevasse, just large enough to swallow up the snowcat. The three screaming men were flung forward as the snowcat fell and slammed into the windscreen. Fortunately, however, the crevasse narrowed as it went down and the snowcat wedged itself to a halt after just 7 metres. The crew were left staring down into a pitch black, seemingly bottomless, pit.

_"Don't move." _Lars breathed. Very carefully, he reached over and flipped on the snowcat's powerful spotlights.

At first, the beams illuminated nothing but the cloud of ice flakes they had brought down with them. But the ice soon cleared allowing them to see further. The dim outline of the bottom appeared not more than six metres away. As the air cleared further, the bottom came into better focus, revealing something which made the crew briefly forget their current predicament. Instead, staring down in amazement!


	2. 1-The Bottom of the World

**Chapter 1 - The Bottom of the World.**

The monitor display showed a narrow tunnel of dead flesh, criss-crossed by hairs protruding from the walls. As the palaeontologist pushed the probe deeper into the creature's innards, it reached the remains of what must have been its last meal.

Most people would be revolted by the task, but to Kate Lloyd, there was no better way to spend a Friday evening. Frozen specimens were so much more interesting to examine than collections of bones but they rarely came her way. When they did, she would get absorbed in her examinations that she would forget anything else. She preferred to do this when the building was quiet and there was no one around to distract her or question why she had her walkman on at work.

As the palaeontologist made notes on the cave bear's stomach contents, a voice at the door broke her concentration.

"Shit!" said Kate. She hurriedly flicked off "Who Can It Be Now" and removed her headphones.

"Sorry Kate." said Hank, the security guard. "These men said you were expecting them." He ushered Kate's friend, Adam, into the lab.

"Hey." Said Adam. "You didn't forget, did you?"

"Well, I... um..." Kate thought for an explanation but none came. "Yeah." She said finally.

"Well this is the man I told you about." Said Adam, indicating to the door where a middle aged Danish man had followed him in.

"Hello." he said. "I'm Doctor Sander Halverson. Are you familiar with my work?"

"I am." said Kate. Sander Halverson was one of the world's leading microbiologists. Adam had been delighted when he got the opportunity to work as his assistant, believing it would massively boost his career.

"Adam told me a bit about you too. he told me you specialise in vertebrate palaeontology?" said Sander.

"Primarily yes." said Kate.

"And you've, of course, extracted specimens from pack ice?"

"I've worked on several cold weather digs, yes." said Kate.

"Good." he said.

The microbiologist considered the woman Adam had recommended to him. He had an instinctive dislike of female scientists, having started his career at a time when women in the lab were there to make coffee and pass the men test tubes. His impression wasn't helped by miss Lloyd's appearance. She seemed too casual and awkward talking to him. More like a teenager trying to buy cigarettes than the grown up expert Adam said she was.

Sander decided to be professional and give her the benefit of the doubt. "An old colleague of mine, from Oslo, runs a research station in Antarctica." he said. "48 hours ago, his team found something quite remarkable. Adam and I are flying there tomorrow evening and I need a palaeontologist."

Kate was startled. Expeditions like this were normally planned weeks in advance and she would know what to expect. But anything in Antarctica, so urgent that it couldn't wait until spring was clearly going to be exciting.

"You do realise that I'm going to need a bit more information about what it is I'm being asked to dig up." She said.

"A specimen." Sander said simply. "And a structure."

Something about the way he said "structure" told Kate that he didn't mean a rock formation. This was getting increasingly intriguing.

"That's all I can tell you right now." Sander finished. "I'm sorry but I'm going to need an answer from you now."

"Kate." Said Adam. "This is your chance to be part of something big."

"Well... I'm in." said Kate.

"Excellent." said Sander and turned to leave. "Adam will give you the details."

"So go on, what's the Hell is it?" Kate said, once he'd gone.

"You now officially know as much as I do." Said Adam. "I tell you one thing though. I've worked with him for three years and I've never seen him this excited."

* * *

It quickly became apparent to Kate that Sander was in love with his own voice. Anyone who disagreed with him or impeded his arrangements in any way earned a calm but stiff rebuke. He'd been particularly annoyed upon their meeting with Matias, the Norwegian camp's helicopter pilot who had said that his flight back had been delayed due to having to wait for a delivery of kerosene. Fortunately, he'd directed them to a private charter service which would get them there much faster.

And so it was that the three of them found themselves in the back of a large, twin bladed helicopter as it thundered over the Antarctic wastes.

Adam looked round the interior of the chopper. It was clear that the three man crew would spend periods living in the back of their vehicle. Bunks were folded neatly into the wall ready to be pulled down when needed and three of the storage boxes were given over to personal possessions. The pilots had decorated their boxes with small posters of warmer places. There was also one photo of a bearded man in a sombrero, on which they'd scribbled **Do not accept lifts from this man.**

Adam's eyes travelled round to Griggs, the third man in the crew, who was snoozing peacefully in his seat, regardless of the noise of the engine and the roughness of the flight. How was that even possible?

Carter, the pilot, had never lost his enthusiasm for what he did. His presence there was keeping the various bases connected and his supply runs were just as vital as they had been back in Vietnam. Still, he had to agree with his crewmates that the daily life in Antarcticahad gotten really boring after so many seasons.

During a quiet moment in the flight, he took a look at their passengers, whom he hadn't really had a chance to speak to earlier.

"She U.S.?" he said to Jameson, his co-pilot, gesturing at Kate.

Jameson nodded in agreement.

Carter got Kate's attention and gestured for her to put her headphones on.

"I was wandering if you could help me with something." the pilot said. "It's a bit difficult to get a paper down here that's not more than a few weeks old and I'm a man in desperate need of some information."

"Don't do this to yourself man." Jameson interrupted.

"And what information would that be?" Kate asked.

"I want to know how the Cavaliers are doing." Said Carter.

"Sorry." said the palaeontologist, "I don't really follow football."

"They play basketball." the pilot corrected her.

"Barely." Said Jameson. "It's the Cavaliers man!"

"Just so you all know." Carter moved on. "Whatever you all are doing down there, you might want to wrap it up in a couple of days."

"Why's that?" said Kate.

"There's a storm coming in." said Griggs. "Nasty one."

"Morning Griggsy." Said Carter. "Yeah, he's right. And the last place you want to be in a storm is cooped up with a bunch of Norwegian guys. Trust me."

* * *

"Base in sight at 1 O' clock." said Jameson. He picked up the radio and spoke "This is H3 Sea King inbound for Thule Station. Do you copy?"

"Hello H3 Sea King." Replied a voice with a thick cockney accent. "Please approach from the east. Landing pad is clear."

As the craft came in to land, the group took their first look at the camp from the windows.

The main building was roughly L shaped and of wooden construction. There was no concrete in evidence as the fierce winds would quickly reduce it to dust. It was raised on stilts to prevent the snow building up in drifts. A small tower stuck up at one end, from which the weather was monitored.

Inside, and heavily insulated from the outside, a windy maze of corridors led to a wide variety of rooms, designed to allow the team to go about their research in comfort. From bedrooms, labs, kitchens, offices, all the luxuries of home.

To one side sat a collection of sheds and out buildings of various shapes and sizes, depending on importance, shielding the occupants from the wind in three directions.

Wooden walkways and guide ropes connected the buildings. When the wind picked up, it was hard to see your own hand if you held your arm out and the guide ropes were neccesary to prevent one from getting lost.

At the far side of the base stood a signpost, pointing to many of the world's cities. Each distance marked was at least 1000 KM, emphasising the isolation of the base. Besides a handful of minor research camps, owned by other nations, the team were an unimaginable distance from anyone or anything.

The base had only been running for two months and everything was still shiny and new, even the vehicles. Much of the equipment was still waiting for its first use.

Within the garages, sat a small collection of snow vehicles, ready to take the researchers out across the ice to collect core samples for miles around. But that was not what the team were looking into now.

As the chopper touched down, two men sped towards them in one of the sprites.

"Hello, my name's Olav." Said the first. "Welcome to Thule. Edvard asked us to take you to the crash site. Lars will drive you."

* * *

After a six mile journey across the ice, the snowcat pulled up at the side of a glacier. A tunnel of ice, ten feet wide stood in the ice cliff, leading the group down below.

Lars led the group down, with Olav bringing up the rear. Olav had a sense of foreboding about their discovery, almost as if they were digging up something which really ought to remain hidden. But then Olav had always been of a nervous disposition. He'd barely passed the psychological evaluation he'd undertaken before coming. Not that he didn't enjoy exploration. He was glad to be in an environment where maps and charts and weather readings could forewarn him of any danger and he could help keep the others safe.

As the group got deeper, the tunnel got narrower, darker and windier. Precariously placed ladders helped with some of the steeper sections, as well as bridging some of the deeper ravines, but there was a constant sense of precariousness with every step they took.

Lars was helping the group down a particularly steep section when his own footing gave way. He tumbled down several metres before he managed to jam his ice axe into a wall. Hearing the commotion, three people approached from the lower tunnel.

_"Sander!" _said their leader _"You made it then."_

"_Edvard!" _Sander said _"Good to see you." _He gestured towards his companions. "This is my assistant, Adam Finch and Kate Lloyd, palaeontologist."

Edvard introduced himself and his two colleagues to the Americans "Hello, I'm Edvard. I'm the station commander. This is Karl and Juliette, both geologists."

The two groups shook hands.

"So. Let me show you why you flew 16,000 Kilometres." Said Edvard.

After an hour's walking, the tunnel opened out into a massive underground chasm. The hole Lars, Peder and Olav had fallen down allowed a little daylight to reverberate around the chamber, aided by the artificial lights the team had set up, which gave the group a clear view of what lay there.

A huge metallic circle lay there. 300 feet wide and 50 high. At the centre lay a domed hatch, from which several protrusions, neatly covering the internal workings, led out towards the rim in a spiral pattern. A series of ridges, which looked to the visitors like giant metallic window blinds, covered the spaces between the protrusions. A number of circular covers dotted the surface and the sides of the structure. There was no mistaking it. This was a flying saucer!

* * *

**Author's notes: Sander's opinion of Kate is partially based on reviews I've seen for her character. I always thought it was deliberate that she doesn't look like an action hero. It makes here into a badass normal.**

**There was an unfilmed scene in Mcmurdo, which would have had a picture of Macready on the wall. I liked that idea so I added it to the chopper scene.**

**I would appreciate some comments. Even in the form of constructive criticism.**


	3. 2-The Thing From Another World

**Chapter 2: The Thing From Another World**

"Holy shit!" Said Adam.

Edvard smiled at the visitors amazement. Even Sander, who knew what to expect, could not believe what he was seeing. Edvard could scarce believe it himself. Only four days ago, this had been a minor research base, notable only to those interested in geology. Now, purely by chance, they had discovered something which would give mankind the stars. The gateway to their civilisation's future lay on their doorstep.

"We estimate that it's been here one hundred thousand years." He said.

"Incredible" Said Sander. "Have you surveyed the interior yet?"

"All the hatches are sealed." Said Edvard. "We decided to leave the task to someone more qualified."

"Surely a bit of dynamite would free them up." Said the microbiologist. "The more people you call in the more you risk losing the discovery."

"It's not that simple." Said Edvard. "We don't know what's in there. If we hit a fuel line or an antimatter chamber then the whole discovery goes up in smoke."

Edvard had expected to be having this sort of conversation. He and Sander had very different approaches to research. Sander preferred to push constantly onwards, believing that you could get a greater quantity of work done that way. Edvard, however, preferred the methodical approach, constantly pausing to ensure that everything was efficient and correct.

But Edvard needed a task done quickly. Once the world found out about this, every nation would swarm in looking for a piece of it and things could easily turn dangerous. Proof of this thing's existence had to be shown to the world within the next few days. That way, the worlds governments would have all winter to decide how to respond, travel being too difficult in the winter months. Despite the awe inspiring nature of the discovery, the safety of his team still needed to be considered. He did not want this region turning into a warzone.

"How did you find this?" Said Adam.

"We picked up a distress signal." Said Edvard. "It seems to have been activated when the survivor left the craft."

"Survivor?" Said Kate.

* * *

Lars and Olav led them back up the tunnel, up a rope ladder and across the plateau on top of the glacier to where a set of flags marked an oblong space.

The team brushed away the top snow to reveal a layer of clear ice. They couldn't see very deeply but they could clearly see the outline of some huge animal. The figure appeared to have numerous arms and legs jutting out of its body at odd angles. Two could be seen just below the ice, resembling no creature Kate had ever extracted before.

"Kate, how long do you think it would take to get this thing out?" Said Sander.

Remembering that she had a job to do, Kate looked up. "Given the right equipment, I'd say half a day."

"Good." Said Sander.

"It's getting dark soon." Said Olav. "We'd better be heading back." This close to winter, there were only a few hours of daylight in a day. It wouldn't be long before the continent was plunged into perpetual darkness.

* * *

The base's rec room was equipped with everything necessary to combat the rising monotony that would assail anyone forced to cope with the months of isolation. Sofas, books, cards, a pool table, board games, and even a small bar. Pictures of home decorated the notice board.

In one corner, Colin, the stations radio man, sat playing patience. Unlike some of the others, quiet and isolation suited him fine. The only problem was the Norwegians. Three of whom were sat at the far end, chatting away in their native language, completely ignoring his presence. He could hear Peder mentioning his name several times and just knew that they were making some joke at his expense.

Colin scowled. It was never fun being the butt of everyone's jokes. He wasn't exactly at the base by choice, having taken the post out of fear of being reassigned to The Falklands, as some of the others at Rothera had been. He did not get on with the foreigners, who seemed to have a problem with anything he did.

Edvard had returned from the crash site and now strolled into the room.

"I'm holding a briefing, for the visitors, in the chart room," he announced, "and I need everybody there. Jonas, fetch the tapes."

The Norwegians got up to leave but Colin remained where he was.

"I said everybody." The commander reminded the Englishman.

"I'm not a scientist." Said Colin. "What the Hell do you need me for?"

You had to get along in a place like this and Edvard couldn't afford to show his dislike of Colin too often. The man was rude and lazy, hardly ever assisting with the others' work, even though the radio was frequently down. It was just as well that he wanted little to do with the others.

"We all need to be there." Edvard said simply. "You've had all day to waste time."

Colin looked down at the cards and sighed. He'd had a good chance of finishing that time.

* * *

**Author's notes: Some of the characters in this film were marginalised a bit too much, so I'm going to be adding a bit of characterisation in the next few chapters. I have to get creative here as I don't know the details of some of the cut scenes and there are several characters for whom 's character page simply lists their name.**


	4. 3- Briefing

**Chapter 3: Briefing**

Edvard had gathered everyone in the chart room to put the visitors in the picture. The chart room was the base's main operations centre, and a quick look around showed how much effort went into their research and the running of the base. Every wall and table in the room was covered with maps and charts and photos of the team at work.

Jonas, who was the station's unofficial documentarian, inserted a tape in the machine and hit play. The monitor displayed footage of them collecting core samples. This being of little interest to the visitors, he pressed fast forward.

Jonas hadn't come to Antarctica to play cameraman. But everyone at Thule had to do multiple jobs to keep the station running. Now, he was pleased to be in the position. He was determined to return home with evidence the world's governments couldn't cover up. This could not be the only alien visitor in the space of 100,000 years. Stuff like this must fall to Earth all the time. He knew of a base at the North Pole which had reported contact with an alien species 30 years beforehand, but had been dismissed as a hoax due to lack of evidence. Jonas did not want the pattern repeating here.

As Jonas searched for the right place in the film, Edvard began recounting how they had come across the spaceship. From the interferences with their equipment, to the misadventure in the snowcat, to the next day's survey.

"We cleared the top snow so that we could gain an estimate of its size and shape. It was at this point that we found the body." He said, as he pointed to the monitor. Jonas had found the right place and muted the film. The screen now showed footage of the team standing over the ship's silhouette in the ice. As the film continued, they began to fan out until they were stood in a circle with their arms outstretched. "Here, you see us laying flags to gain an estimate of its size. Our initial plan was to cut down from the top. That was before we found the tunnel." He paused the film "Henrik, show them the scan."

Henrik, who was responsible for surveying, pointed to a series of overlapping prints on the wall, formed from numerous ultrasound scans around the crash site. A huge black zone indicated the presence of the ice, through which an unsteady column of white worked its way down to a larger clear space.

"As you can see from this," Said the Norwegian. "The ship crashed into the glacier here. It then carved a 200 metre tunnel into the ice, and came to rest in this chamber here. The occupant, we presume, must have crawled up the tunnel and on to the plateau.

"So, let me get this straight." Said Adam. "You crash into a glacier, and with no knowledge at all, you leave the safety of your ship and go out into the cold?"

"Maybe it was hurt and went to find help?" Henrik offered.

"Guess it didn't find it." Said Adam. It filled him with dread to imagine surviving that crash, only to find yourself marooned, light years from home, in the most inhospitable environment on Earth.

Karl stepped forward. "I have my own theory." Said the German "We've analysed the metal at the back and found more traces of corrosion than the metal at the front."

"Meaning what exactly?" Said Adam

"The ship's probably had some kind of an auto-repair system running for 100,000 years. Its intact now but it probably was not then."

"So anyway," said Edvard, resuming the video, "we simply had to lay a couple of thermite charges to uncover the entrance and we could get down to it." The film showed the team laying the charges before cutting to a shot from the plateau as the thermite ignited in a brilliant display of light.

The film ended here, as it was too dark to film underground, so Edvard described the team's underground exploration purely verbally.

As the commander finished his lecture, Sander located the radio operator.

"Colin," he said "I want you to make sure everyone stays off the radio. We don't want anything being leaked."

"Shouldn't be a problem." Said Colin. "Storm's brewing. I don't think anyone on this bloody continent's talked to each other in a week."

Edvard, meanwhile, had finished the talk. "So this is where you three come in. Any thoughts on extracting the creature, Kate?"

Kate had been studying a collection of surveys and notes which the team had laid out on a table for her. Sadly, the notes had proved of little use as most of them were in Norwegian.

"Er, the ice." Said the palaeontologist. "I should probably ask. What condition is it in?"

"It's not into the fracture zone, so there's very little risk of fissuring. " Said Jonas, who was an expert on Polar ice. "It's quite dense so, we think, we can get it out in one piece. We have an idea about how to do it if you would like to look." He pointed to a diagram on the table. "We drill four holes at the corners and cut out the spaces between with chainsaws. We then pour boiling water in to create a soft bottom and the whole thing will lift out."

"Well, it sounds like you've got everything covered, I'm not sure what you need me for." Kate laughed. She peered at the diagram for a moment and said. "Based on this scan you made, you might want to make those holes a couple of inches deeper or you might boil a bit of the... thing." She winced at how unprofessional that had sounded. "Also, do you have a crane suitable for this sort of load."

"Yes." Said Peder, as he stubbed out a cigarete. "Lars has been setting it up." He indicated to the heavily set mechanic who was sitting by a wall, playing with his dog.

"What's its maximum load?" Kate said to Lars, who looked at her blankly.

"Oh, he doesn't speak English." Said Peder. "He'll work like a bear though." He turned to Lars _"She wants to know how much the crane can lift."_

"One. Five. Zero, zero Kilograms." Lars said with a lot of effort.

Kate scribbled down some calculations. "That should be enough."

Lars, meanwhile, had turned his attention back to his dog, Jeb. It did it no good to be in the kennel all day but he couldn't take it out across the snow in the darkness so he would bring it to run around inside. The others didn't mind as long as he kept it away from the kitchen and the labs.

Canines and machinery were two great passions he'd discovered while in the army. He just wished the army could have given him a bit more to do then patrolling the same stretch of border once a week and giving the Soviets a friendly wave as they passed by. After leaving, he'd joined an Antarctic search and rescue team, which had proved much more exciting. Lars had grown up in the far north so, unlike some of the others, he was used to the cold.

"I must say," said Kate, "the rest of you all speak surprisingly good English."

"We're taught from an early age in Norway." Said Peder, as he lit another cigarette. It amazed Kate that a man could smoke so much.

"You mind not doing that in here?" Said Colin, as the first puff of smoke drifted past his face. "Creates a bad smell."

"Covers the smells you produce." Said Peder and smiled.

The team liked Peder. He always had some joke to keep them entertained. But he was also practical and keen to help whenever anyone required a second pair of hands.

* * *

Kate slept little that night. Not just from the cold and the unimaginable silence but from the implications of what she had seen. Quietly, she got up, strolled to the window and looked out onto the freezing wastes. Between her and the outside were three panes of glass, with a layer of warm air between each, and Kate could still feel the heat seeping from the room. Outside, the moon lit up the snow and the view was breathtaking.

Kate turned her eyes to the stars. Since she was young, she'd seen them as tiny points of light in a sea of blackness. Now, each one could represent another race, infinitely variable from our own. The universe was a hive of activity, with spaceships zipping between stars in search of adventure, or just popping down their equivalent of the shops. Somewhere out there, a bug eyed creature was probably looking at another sky and wondering if it was alone in the universe. Kate would never look at the stars in the same way.

"First night is hard." Said Juliette, from the top bunk. "I thought the Alps were cold when I worked there. But nothing prepares you for this." The Frenchwoman had taken strongly to Kate. Not least because she was the first woman she'd met in several months.

Many still said that Antarctica was no place for women and Juliette was determined to prove them wrong. She was glad no one at Thule had any such objections. She was as strong and capable as any of the men and they respected that.

* * *

In the next room, Colin was watching an old recording of "The Seeds Of Doom" with Karl. The only member of the team he really got on with.

"Do you suppose there'll be some sort of bonus for bringing home an alien instead of core samples?" Said the radio man.

"There'd better be." Said the German

While some of the other scientists had come to Antarctica out of scientific curiosity, Karl had been attracted by one thing only. Money. Antarctic scientists were well paid for their research. Upon coming to the place, Karl had realised why. They were being forced to conduct their research in a world which was trying its best to kill them, and it would be another six months before he could get anywhere warmer.

Their latest find, however, had finally picked up his interest. While his part in the discovery was small, it was incredible to think that he was one of the first to encounter the single biggest scientific breakthrough since man first started rubbing sticks together. Tomorrow, the world would be changed forever.

* * *

**Author's notes: There are a lot of lines I've shifted around here in order to work better in text form.**

**I thought that the video footage would make a nice continuity reference, as well as providing answers to some a couple of the questions fans often ask.**


	5. 4-The Ice Block

**Chapter 4: The Ice Block.**

The next morning, the entire team set off across the ice, leaving the pilots to sit on the porch (or, rather, the stairs) sipping beer.

Jameson was bored. Antarctica had sounded so exciting when he'd first come. Adventure stories had filled the continent with lost expeditions, buried civilisations and the ever present threat of polar bears (seemingly, the writers needed a lesson in geography.) But the truth was that very little ever happened in this part of the world, and once you'd seen one scientific base you'd seen them all. He was just glad that this was his last season there. At the end, he would return to Florida, where he and his brother planned to start a jet boat business.

"What do you suppose they're digging up?" Said Griggs.

"Twenty bucks says rocks." Said Jameson.

"I'd say, ice." Said Griggs.

"She's a palaeontologist. Gotta be an animal of some kind." Said Carter.

"Time to find out." said Griggs. He pointed to a small convoy of snowcats as they returned to camp. The largest was towing a large sled behind, loaded with a huge rectangular slab, covered by a tarpaulin. On which, Lars was sitting with his dog.

"Pretty big, whatever it is." Said Jameson.

* * *

_"I must say Edvard," _said Sander, as they strode through the corridor, _"your team did an excellent job. Much quicker than I had anticipated."_

_"Well, I can't exaggerate the difficulties of getting that thing back to Oslo."_ The commander said.

_"Just give me two phone calls to Norway and I can a government plane in Mcmurdo in 24 hours. Biology is a race, Edvard, and we're in the lead. Nothing good can come from waiting."_

The two of them had reached a storage room. Inside, a series of steps led down to the main floor, where the rest of the team were gathered around an ice block. 105cm high, 360cm long and 180cm wide. The ice was still too cloudy to gain a clear view of the creature but they could tell that it was something truly massive.

Kate was making marks on the surface of the block. "To take it down to transport weight, we can start by cutting from here to here. Start with four inches or so." She said.

"I never really believed in this shit." Said Adam.

"I always did." Jonas commented.

"Are we all set?" Said Sander.

"Nearly there." Said Kate.

"Good. Before we start, I'm going to take a tissue sample." The biologist said.

Kate looked at him in concern. "Do you really think that's a good idea?"

"Yes, I do."

"I mean, the conditions are so unpredictable and we don't have the proper equipment." Said Kate. "Sterilisation is an issue. Bacteria can survive under the ice for millions of years. You could unleash some sort of space plague, which we have no immunity against."

"I don't think we need worry about that." The microbiologist reassured her. "You cannot be infected by germs living in such comparatively close relatives as snakes. Any bacteria it contains will have adapted to its biology and will not survive in our atmosphere."

But Kate wasn't convinced. "What about viruses though? They can alter their DNA if they need to."

"Only through prolonged contact. Which, it's safe to say, none of us will experience."

"You can't be sure we're safe." Said Kate. "This thing could contain microbes which behave in entirely different ways from anything you've seen."

"If it does, my analysis will find them!" Said Sander, angrily. He was aware of the risks but had decided that they would need to be taken. Who did she think she was to tell him how to do his job.

"You Don't know that. You could at least..." Kate began, but Sander cut her off.

"Edvard," he said, "what do you have in the way of a small diameter drill?"

"Anything up to a 30mm." Said Edvard.

Kate went to get some fresh air, claiming she was going to the bathroom.

* * *

Kate paced the corridor in frustration. She was fed up with not being listened to. People like Sander believed they knew all there was to know about their subject and there was nothing anyone junior could contribute to science. Proper evidence would get ignored in favour of their own bloated opinion.

Saner found her pacing and called her over.

"Kate." He said "In the future, don't contradict me in front of all those people again."

"I just thought that..." She began but Sander cut her off again.

"You're not here to think, you're here to get that thing safely out of the ice. I hope we understand each other."

Sander marched away. The man's arrogance clearly led him to believe that he could eliminate any danger they might encounter. Kate could only hope that it wouldn't cause problems.

"I've got a theory about how to deal with bosses. You want to hear it?" Said Carter, who'd overheard. "Just don't have them."

Kate smiled.

"You OK?" Said the pilot.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine." Said Kate.

"Is it true though?" Said Carter. "What you found?

"I don't really think it's my place." She said.

"It's just that I'm going to have to put this... whatever this is on my helicopter. I'm a kinda superstitious guy. So if we're going to have to move some sort of, you know, green man..."

"It's true." said Kate. "All of it.

"Oh." Said Carter, at a loss for anything else to say.

* * *

Back in the storage area, Karl held a drill at the ready. Kate directed him to a point where the ice was thin above the creature and gave a nod. Karl powered the drill up and pushed down. A continuous crunching noise sounded as the drill cut through the dense ice. As it went down, minor cracks appeared under the surface.

Finally, the drill hit something soft and sank a fair distance into the creature. Karl pulled it out. A small amount of frozen flesh was caught in the thread. Adam plucked it out with tweezers and placed it in a sealed container, ready for analysis.

* * *

In the station's lab, Adam was preparing slides for Sander. Unlike Kate, he was perfectly contented to play the long game when it came to research. While Sander may make some decisions he disagreed with, it would do Adam's career no good to go against him all the time. Once he was older, and the world could see his work, then he'd be able to research the way he wanted.

Placing the first slide under the microscope, Adam decided to have a quick look.

"That can't be right." Said Adam.

"What can't?" Said Sander.

"These cells are still alive!" Said Adam, moving aside so Sander could look for himself.

"Fascinating!" Said Sander.

"This isn't possible, surely."

"Not necessarily." Said Sander. "Have you ever heard of Henrietta Lacks?"

"Yeah." Said Adam. "That woman who's cells they were able to keep growing after she'd died."

"It's possible that this thing's flesh naturally behaves in a similar way. It's lain inert beneath the ice, but now that we've exposed it to the air, it's reactivated."

A look of concern crossed Adam's face. "We've exposed that thing in the ice as well now. What if it's still alive?"

"No, that's impossible." Said Sander. "Individual cells may revive but an organism this complex requires an intricate network of organs to live. It would be too difficult to re-activate."

Adam relaxed. Glad that Sander knew what he was doing.

* * *

"Watch this." Said Henrik. He leaned over the pool table and hit a shot which bounced off four cushions before knocking the black in, amidst applause from the men gathered round the table.

Henrik loved the sense of camaraderie he got from the others. It was what made life in isolation bearable. They'd all been there to reassure him when a message came through that his wife had left him in his absence. Juliette especially.

Sander strolled in and called everyone to attention.

"After a short but thorough analysis of our visitor," he began, "I can now tell you that I have never seen anything, on any cellular level, like what we have in the other room. And the impact of this find will be felt for thousands of years. From this point on, the world as we know it is is forever altered. And you, my friends will be immortalised as the people who made this discovery."

_"We found a fucking alien!" _Lars roared. He raised his beer bottle in the air. "Skol!"

"Skol!" The group cheered and celebrations quickly got underway. Peder handed several red beers round, while Olav pulled out his guitar and began to sing "Sámiid Ædnan" with the Norwegians joining in.

"So, have you ever tasted this before?" Said Peder as he poured Kate a glass.

"It tastes very bad." Juliette warned her.

In the centre of the room, Lars and Jonas had got up for a dance. The looks of delight were evident on everyone's faces.

Kate took a swig from her glass and immediately gagged. "Got anything better than this cough syrup?" She asked.

"Hey Grigsy!" Carter called. "You wanna bring in some of your stash?"

"Sure, no problem." Said Griggs.

* * *

Griggs pulled open the door to the helicopter and hauled himself in. He opened his storage box and was greeted by a mass of junk. The beer was going to take a while to find.

It hadn't been easy for Griggs, adjusting to civilian life after 'nam. The quiet serenity of Antarctica had been a good way to get away from it all. Now though, he was glad that he would be on his way home in a few months. And he'd have quite a story to tell when he got back.

* * *

Jameson left the bathroom and was about to rejoin the others when a low growling noise, from the opposite direction, caught his attention.

"Do you hear that?" He said to Peder, on his way to the bathroom.

"Pipes probably." Said Peder.

Jameson thought. He'd never heard pipes make that kind of sound before.

He followed the sound to the storage room, where the ice block was located. To Jameson, who hadn't seen it before, the block sent a shiver down his spine. Though that may have been because the heat had been switched off in the room.

Jameson crept up to the block and brushed away some of the frost. He could now see the form of something large. And clearly vicious. He heard a low growling again and tried to reassure himself it was just the pipes. Beneath the surface he could see cracks forming. He couldn't be sure but they seemed to be growing before his eyes. Almost as if this thing was trying to break out...

CRASH!

Jameson wheeled round in alarm, to see Peder, who'd followed him in and dropped a tool box to startle him.

"Screw you man." Said Jameson, as Peder laughed. The Norwegian turned and left.

"Son of a..." Jameson sighed. He had one last look at the block. Maybe he was letting his imagination run away with itself. With a sense of embarrassment, he turned and went to rejoin the group.

**CRASH!**

A shower of ice filled the room, knocking Jameson off his feet. He looked back to see that the thing had broken out of the block, leapt up, and was disappearing through a hole it had smashed in the ceiling.

Jameson scrambled to his feet and fled the room.

* * *

Outside, Griggs too heard the smash. He looked towards the main building and saw the form of some creature from his worst nightmares crawling over the roof.

Showing the survival instincts that had got him through Vietnam, he ducked down, out of sight. After counting to twenty, he carefully got back up to peer though the window. The thing was gone now, presumably to take ground somewhere.

Hardly daring to breathe, Griggs, very slowly, slid the door open. He made one last check that the coast was clear before sprinting back to the main building, determined to warn the others.

* * *

**Author's notes: The next chapter is when the gory stuff starts, so the story will have to be moved up to M rating. Just warning you.**

**I thought Kate gave up a bit too quickly, in the scene around the ice block. After all, there is a genuine danger in what Sander is doing. So I adapted some lines from "Who Goes There?"**

**Reviews are welcome, in fact they are encouraged.**


	6. 5-The Hunt

**Chapter 5: The Hunt.**

Jameson burst into the rec room, gasping for breath. "It got out!" He cried.

The team fell silent for a second then burst out laughing. Jonas made cuckoo noises, thinking this was some joke.

"It ain't a joke man!" Jameson shouted. "That fricking thing's alive! I was in the room, looking at the ice, and it jumped out!"

Something in his voice showed how serious he was. Without another word, the entire group rushed from the room to investigate.

* * *

Splinters of wood and shards of ice lay strewn around the storage room. A huge chunk was missing from the centre of the block, forming a cavity where the creature had once lain. Directly above, a section was missing from the roof. The fact that all of this had been done in seconds was unbelievable, and the team was filled with a mixture of awe and horror.

"No chance that you've moved it somewhere to scare us?" Adam asked, clutching at straws.

"No." Said Griggs, appearing at the top of the stairs. "I saw it outside. Don't know where it is now."

Sander alone looked excited by this development. "Incredible." He said. "It's alive! If we can capture it. Communicate with it. We can learn so much!"

"And how do you suggest we do that?" Said Jonas. "None of us are animal trappers!"

"We should try." Said Sander.

"At any rate," said Edvard, "we have to find it. Break into groups and search the whole camp. If you find it, call out. Don't attempt anything on your own."

"And be careful." Sander added. "We don't know what condition it's in."

* * *

The wind was beginning to pick up. It stung the team's faces as they patrolled the grounds. But more vitally, it brought up a haze of snow, weakening the power of the station's lights and leaving the team spending much of their search in total darkness. Their torches created narrow shafts of light but it was surrounded by walls of pitch black. As a result, the group had very little peripheral vision. They trod nervously, knowing that, at any moment, the thing could be sneaking up on them. Their paranoid instincts turned every shadow and every sound into some terrifying monster.

The pilots were patrolling around their helicopter when Carter noticed something. "Hey Griggs, did you leave that open?" He directed his torch at the side door, which hung ajar.

"Don't really remember." Said Griggs. "I was in a bit of a hurry."

"Shit." Said Jameson. "Hey, just be careful man." He added, as Carter stepped forward. "That thing jumped through the fucking roof!"

Carter crept up to the door and grasped the handle. In one swift movement, he flung it open and the three of them shone their torches in.

There was nothing there. And nowhere that the thing could be hiding.

Feeling slightly relieved, they closed the door and locked it.

* * *

In the garage, Lars and Peder carefully checked under all the vehicles and in all the cupboards as they slowly made their way towards the back, where Jeb's kennel was located. Lars thought he might be useful in this hunt.

Once they'd got a look, however, Peder backed away in horror. A huge hole had been torn in the mesh enclosure, presumably how the thing had got in. Masses of blood were splattered all around the kennel interior. In the middle, Jeb's body lay, a torn and twisted mess.

_"There's another hole in the back." _Said Peder. _"We should check there."_

He turned to leave but noticed that Lars wasn't following. Instead, the huge man was hunched over his dog's body. For a moment, he looked genuinely close to tears. The others may have thought of Jeb like a piece of equipment, but to the dog handler, he'd been his friend. He still remembered the first trek he'd taken it on, when they'd been searching for a stranded Argentinean team. He'd been so proud when Jeb had been the first to find them.

_"Lars!"_ Peder got his attention. _"We have to find it before it does any more damage. We'll mourn Jeb later."_

Within Lars, despair quickly turned to anger. Jeb had been murdered in the most brutal way imaginable and he was determined to get hold of the creature responsible. Ever since the army, he'd carried a pistol out of habit rather than necessity. But it seemed very necessary now. If it was the last thing he did, he was going to destroy this monster.

_"Let's go!"_ He said, marching towards the garage entrance.

* * *

Round the back of the sheds, Olav and Henrik thought they could hear something moving in the space beneath a shed.

_"Be careful." _Said Olav, as his friend edged forwards, determined to ensure that their suspicions were correct.

_"Let's go."_ Olav urged, tugging at Henrik's sleeve.

_"I just need a better look."_ Said Henrik. He reached a point where he could bend down and shine his torch under the shed. Quickly lighting up a sickening mass of flesh.

Henrik turned back to Olav. _"It's here! Call out to..."_ He began but never got a chance to finish his sentence.

Quick as lightning, a huge tentacle, with a razor sharp end, shot out, spearing Henrik through the belly. The end split into three as it exited, effectively harpooning the helpless, man in place.

Before either man had a chance to respond, the tentacle began to retract, dragging Henrik to the ground and backwards towards the creature. Desperately, he clawed at the snow but couldn't get a grip.

Finally, he managed to grasp two of the pipes which led from the bottom of the shed. He clung on with all his might but the thing was too strong and he couldn't hold for much longer. Henrik looked to Olav, pleading for help, but the guide was too paralysed with fear to do anything.

Henrik felt his grip slipping and he was dragged back into the dark and the waiting jaws of the thing.

* * *

"HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLLL LLLLLLLLPPPPPP!" Olav's voice echoed throughout the base. "ANYBODY! SOMEBODY HELP!"

Everyone quickly rushed in his direction. They found the guide pale and wide eyed in fear. Blood was splattered over his face.

"It attacked Henrik!" He screamed.

The team rushed where Olav led them and shone their torches under the building, allowing them their first clear look at the thing.

It was hard to think of anything terrestrial to compare it to. A collection of clawed arms, each bearing little relation to its neighbour, jutted out from a huge larva-like body. The thing had no distinguishable head. Instead, it's body just, sort of, ended in a huge mouth, out of which Henrik's legs protruded. They could see his form bulging under its skin and knew that it had swallowed him whole.

But Lars had no time for zoology. The mechanic drew his revolver and opened fire. Carter, who also had a gun, followed suit.

"NO!" Sander screamed and lunged at Carter, but Jonas and Peder held him back.

The two of them kept firing. They could see their bullets tearing through the creature's flesh, but for all the difference it was making, they may as well have been firing pea shooters.

"Griggs, with me!" Jameson roared and the two of them rushed towards a fuel dump.

One of the last shots fired struck a pipe. A jet of superheated steam hit the creature and it screamed in a way that nothing on Earth could. Quickly, it broke through the floor above it and escaped into the building.

Lars and Jameson reloaded and fired through the planks. The thing continued to thrash about. Huge claws and talons breaking holes in the walls as it did so.

"We have to burn it, man!" Shouted Jameson. He and Griggs returned with a kerosene can each. Jameson flung his under the shed while Griggs threw the other through one of the holes the thing had formed.

"Please stop and think for a moment!" Sander cried, struggling hard against the Norwegians who held him. "You are destroying all the scientific knowledge we can gain from it!"

"Fuck science man, this thing's trying to kill us!" Jameson replied.

Carter lit a flare and flung it into the pool of kerosene, lighting it, the building and the thing in seconds. The creature screamed and flailed about in agony as the flames cooked it alive. The terrible stench of barbequing flesh wafted over the group, chocking them. Finally, it collapsed and dropped through the wrecked floor, into the snow.

Edvard and Karl rushed in with fire extinguishers to put out the blaze. In the ashes, the thing lay, burnt all over. Henrik's feet still poked out of its mouth.

* * *

**Author's notes: A scene in which Lars mourns his dog was apparently cut from the film as it was thought to make him too sentimental. I don't know when it would have come so I've put it here.**

**Thanks to everyone who's commented so far.**


	7. 6-Examination

**Chapter 6: Examination**

The Thule station had no resident doctor. It had been deemed unnecessary when there was nothing to treat besides colds and the occasional broken bone. As a result, it fell to Karl, who had a basic medical training, to give Olav a looking over.

Karl checked the readings on the sphygmomanometer he'd attached to the guide's arm. "You're blood pressure's low Olav." He said "Very low."

But Olav didn't respond. He hadn't spoken since calling for help. Instead, he continued to stare at the same spot on the wall he had since he sat down. His face had yet to regain its colour, he was trembling constantly and his pulse was at 120.

"What's wrong with him?" Said Griggs, who was assisting.

"PTSD, most likely." Said the German. "I think he should be moved out of here."

* * *

The mood was no better in the cafeteria, where the others were gathered. The stunned silence was a stark contrast from the joyful celebrations of barely an hour ago.

"Henrik had two small children." Juliette sobbed.

"Yes, it's horrible." Sander said solemnly. "We're all shocked by what happened to Henrik. But, with due respect, we need to examine the remains before it all disintegrates."

The entire room starred at him. It was amazing just how quickly a group of people can turn on you. Sander sighed. Why would humanity never realise that great advances would never come without some sacrifices? True, he wished that Henrik hadn't had to suffer. But halting the research wouldn't bring him back.

"That was a man not remains!" Cried Jonas.

"I am, of course, referring to the creature." Sander added quickly. "I'm sure we are all well aware of the value of this discovery. This could be the first and only time mankind has been visited by an alien life form and, as scientists, we're obliged to study it."

"Didn't go so well the last time, did it?" Peder snapped.

"I think you should burn it." Said Carter, appearing at the door.

"Haven't you contributed enough to this endeavour?" Said Sander, glaring at the man who'd destroyed his only opportunity to reason with the creature.

"You've lost one man." Said Carter. "And Olav back there is in bad shape. We're going to fly him to McMurdo at sun-up. Take him to the military hospital."

"And what are you going to tell them?"

"The truth, as crazy as it sounds. You may have some questions to answer when you get back."

Sander wondered if the man who'd discovered fire had faced this kind of hostility the first time someone had burnt their hut down. _"Edvard," _he said _"we are running out of time."_

Edvard thought for a moment "We should extract Henrik from that thing so we can bury him properly. Jonas, Peder, bring it in."

* * *

Once he had the thing on the lab table, Sander took a moment to consider where to start. The fire had scorched its flesh and exposed the bones in places. The smell was unbearable and the rest of the team were keeping their distance.

Finally, the microbiologist found a couple of hard sections which seemed to serve the same function as a ribcage. Finding a relatively soft section in between, Sander sliced through, before grasping the inner edge of one of the sections in his hand.

"Kate, could you help here?" He asked.

The palaeontologist took the opposite edge in her hands and, together, they were able to pull the creature open, exposing it gruesome innards. At the centre of the creature, a huge amitotic sac covered Henrik. It struck Kate that the sack seemed to fit the poor man perfectly, as if the alien body had been designed for swallowing a human body. But she said nothing. Sander drew a pair of clippers to have a better look.

Once the sack had been cut open, Henrik's face was fully exposed and the sight was terrifying. The Norwegian's skin was completely transparent, through it they could see all the inner workings of his body. A series of umbilical cords connected him to the creature, doing God knows what to him. The look of agony, frozen on his face, added to the utter horror of the image.

One second's look was enough for Juliette. The Frenchwoman gagged and ran from the room.

"What was it doing to him?" Said Adam.

"It would appear, it was absorbing him." Said Sander. "Some form of digestion. It's fascinating."

Once more, everyone turned to stare at Sander. "It is, it's fascinating." He defended.

* * *

Out in the hallway, Griggs saw Juliette emerge from the bathroom, looking queasy.

"Hey, you ok?" Said the pilot, trying to be reassuring.

"I'm fine." Said Juliette, non too convincingly.

"You sure?" said Griggs. "You want me to get you something?"

"No I'll be fine." Juliette shook him off and rushed towards her bedroom. The American watched her go. Clearly, she wanted to be alone for a while.

* * *

Back in the lab, Kate and Adam were continuing to examine the creature, while Sander made notes. Despite everything this was proving interesting work.

As Kate cut free Henrik's right arm, she noticed something strange lying under the wrist. Fetching some tweezers, she pulled it out and held it up to the light. The object was metallic. A small rectangular plate, with ridges running along it and what appeared to be screws poked through it in several places.

"What is this?" She asked.

"Looks like a titanium plate." Adam replied. "They use them to mend compound fractures."

"Henrik broke his arm last spring." Said Karl. "He had to go to Argentina to get it set."

Kate looked at the arm. The skin wasn't broken anywhere.

"Well, if it was in his arm, what's it doing outside of him now?"

"That's a good question." Said Sander.

* * *

None of the team slept easily that night. The horror of what had happened was still sinking in. Kate was particularly restless. Adam found her in the lab preparing some slides.

"What you doing?" He said.

"I wanted to find out what that thing was doing to him." Said Kate. "So I took a sample of the thing's blood and added it to some human blood." She placed the sample under a microscope and had a look. Immediately, she backed away in alarm.

"Adam, I think you should see this." Said Kate.

Adam peered down the lens. He saw one of the thing cells forcing its way through one of the human cell walls, like a virus. Unlike a virus, however, the alien cell seemed to vanish and the whole mass split into two human cells. Adam followed one of them as it approached a third cell, whereupon it transformed back into the original cell form and attacked the third cell.

"That's weird." Said the biologist. "It's like they're attacking the human cells. Copying them."

"It's imitating them." Said Kate.

Her friend looked up. "I don't know if that's what I'm seeing here..."

"It's imitating them." she repeated.

The implications were alarming. If it could take over individual cells like this, what would stop it taking over entire organisms. Perhaps it could preserve their memories and imitate them perfectly. They would have had a horrific job finding it if they hadn't got to it before it could finish.

But this was all speculation and she knew she could easily be jumping to conclusions. At any rate, the thing couldn't be of any threat now.

Kate rubbed her head. It was 5 in the morning and she needed sleep.

* * *

The next morning, work on the base resumed as normal. Though without Henrik.

Kate wandered down the corridor towards the shower room to freshen up. On her way, she met the pilots, who were leading Olav in the opposite direction. The guide looked little healthier than he had the previous evening.

"Hey." Said Carter. "We're leaving. If the weather holds up, we'll be back with help as soon as we can, ok?"

"Ok." Said Kate.

Carter returned to his crew "OK, let's get the hell out of here."

* * *

Kate bent over the sink and splashed water on her face. She really needed a shower, a way to wash away the stench of death, but had been banned from taking one due to water rationing. The palaeontologist was just glad she would be out of there in a few hours time and she could try and put this incident behind her.

Reaching over to dry her hands, Kate noticed four small pieces of metal on the floor, covered in blood. Bending down, she picked them up with a tissue and had a closer look. Their shape was irregular but the top edge of some looked vaguely familiar to Kate. After a minute's thought, she realised what they reminded her of... teeth fillings. And she could make a fair guess as to how someone had lost them.

As she considered this, Kate saw something under the shower curtain. But she desperately hoped it wasn't what she thought it was. With a terrible sense of dread, she moved up to it and flung the curtain aside. The entire stall was coated in blood. All over the walls and floor. Someone had obviously been attacked. But she'd been eating breakfast with everyone only a minute before and they'd all been fine.

What had been a theory the previous evening now seemed all too real. That thing wasn't dead yet. More than that, it was fit and healthy and had taken over someone in the base. Replicated every cell in their body. The thing must have infected someone in the shower, a bid for reinforcements, then spat out their fillings as it had with Henrik's plate. It probably had to leave the evidence behind when someone came in to brush their teeth.

But how? Olav had had time to call for help when the thing attacked. Surely they'd have been alerted if it had got to anyone else?

That was if Olav had had time... They hadn't seen what happened. The creature could have infested his system. All that shell shock was just the symptoms of a slow infection.

And now he was leaving in Carter's helicopter...

"Shit." Said Kate, and flung herself out the room.

* * *

**Author's notes: It was very difficult describing how Kate pieces everything together, but I think it's gone alright.**

**I think Sander does have valid reasons for continuing his study. The group's hostility stems from the fact that he doesn't seem to care about Henrik. Since Edvard acts as the voice of reason at several points, I had him think of the reasonable attitude to take.**


	8. 7-Terror In The Air

**Chapter 7: Terror In The Air.**

Kate tore through the corridor, towards the entrance. If this thing got out of there, it could infest the animal kingdom. A single insect could take over any animal it came across and repeat the process a thousand fold every hour. Nothing could stop it. Nothing could escape it. Within about three years, every living thing on Earth would be under its control. She couldn't let that helicopter leave.

Without pausing to pull a coat on, she threw the main entrance open and rushed out. She'd catch frostbite if she stayed outside too long but that hardly seemed important right now.

Outside, the helicopter was already 50 feet off the ground. Kate was panicking more than ever. "Carter wait!" She cried, waving her arms franticly to get his attention.

Up in the cockpit, Carter glanced down at the camp. His eye was caught by Kate. "I think she's trying to flag us down." He said.

"Come on man. Let's get out of here." Said his co-pilot.

Edvard also noticed Kate's actions. "Is there something the matter?" He asked.

"They can't leave." Kate gasped, leaping up and down in a furious effort to show how important it was that they land.

Carter thought for a while. He had mistaken signals from the ground before but he trusted Kate to have a good reason for what she was doing.

"Alright. Fuck it." He said at last. "We're landing"

"Is there something wrong?" Said Olav, overhearing the conversation.

"Er, no. Everything's fine. They probably just forgot something." Said Griggs.

But his words did nothing to reassure. Kate had been on her way to the shower room a minute ago. If she was signalling them down, she must have found the blood. If she showed someone else, they'd never be allowed to leave, even if she couldn't prove the thing's existence. Their only hope was to create a distraction.

Olav began shaking once more. Soon, his whole body began to convulse and his breaths became short and shallow.

Griggs grasped his hand to steady him. "Hey, it's ok. We'll be in the air again in no time."

Olav looked Griggs in the eye. He was just in time to see a crimp appearing down the middle of the American's face. A second later, his face split and his entire head hinged open. Muscles blood vessels and bones tore apart but Griggs looked entirely unfazed. The mouth on either side of the split opened up and let out the same unholy screeching sound the thing under the shed made.

Olav screamed so hard it tore a vocal cord. Not that he would ever know.

The split on Griggs's body continued down his neck and on to his torso. His entire chest burst open and a mass of tentacles shot out towards the guide.

From the ground, Kate and Edvard saw the chopper beginning to shudder, in the sky.

"Something's wrong." Said the palaeontologist.

The helicopter seemed to stabilise briefly before swinging wildly to the left. It tossed back and forth in increasingly wild strokes, before losing control completely. The aircraft spun round and round as it spiralled over their heads and away from the camp. Finally, it disappeared over a ridgeline, where a distant thump revealed its fate.

* * *

The camp quickly descended into chaos as everyone rushed to find out what had happened. Everyone was shouting at once, Edvard was barking orders to Lars and Colin and Kate's discovery went ignored.

Finally, most of the team had gathered in the radio room, where Colin was furiously trying signal for help.

"This is Thule Station. Hailing McMurdo, or any ears, on emergency channel. Do you copy? Over." Colin switched on the receiver. A mass of static blared out. He flicked the switch back and tried again. "I repeat. This is Thule Station. Come in. Over." But still, he got nothing but static.

"Try the American base." Said Edvard.

"This is Thule Station, calling Outpost 31. Urgent. Come in. Over." Said Colin. But still, no response came.

"Try another frequency." Said the commander.

"I can't reach the next room on this bloody thing!" Cried the Englishman.

"So that's it then." Said Adam." No one's coming to help us?"

* * *

Windows looked up as he heard a faint voice over the endless static. Hurriedly, he adjusted the frequency to bring it into clearer audio, but the voice faded as quickly as it had come.

The radio man had no idea where the transmission had come from, having caught none of what it was saying. For all he knew, it could have been an Argentinean disco station. He doubted he could respond, even if he knew their frequency. The weather was drawing in and those few seconds must have been a blip.

After a few attempts to respond on general frequencies. Windows gave up. With the day's excitement over, he turned his attention back to Playboy.

* * *

In the chart room, Edvard found Lars pouring over maps of the area.

_"They crashed somewhere up here."_ He said, pointing. _"We can't get any of the vehicles up these ridges. We could try on foot but no-one's ever been up there before. We have no maps and it'll be dark by the time we get anywhere near them."_

"Are we not going to help?" Said Juliette.

"It's impossible without a helicopter." Said Edvard. "And our's is refuelling in McMurdo.

"We could at least try."

Edvard thought for a moment _"Lars, how long would it take to drive to the next base? We'll ask for help directly"_

"I don't understand how this could have happened." Said Adam, as Lars plotted a route. "I mean, they had plenty of visibility, right?"

"This can't be a coincidence." Said Jonas.

* * *

Kate returned to the shower room to confirm that what she'd seen wasn't some horrible nightmare. Looking into the same stall, she found it spotlessly clean. But that couldn't be right.

Idly putting her hand in her pocket, Kate realised that she'd stuffed the tissue there in her panic. And it still contained the fillings. So she had seen the blood and someone must have cleared it up.

She had vaguely hoped that those things had gone up with the helicopter, but now she could see that this simply wasn't the case. This thing was still here. Still trying to deceive everyone.

* * *

_"Edvard, you are making a mistake calling in outside help. We could lose this discovery."_ Said Sander. Who was becoming increasingly blind to anything else.

_"Sander, four lives could be in danger. It's time to call it quits." _Edvard replied.

"The bloody radio's dead." Said Colin, at the door. "Totally dead. That incoming storm, there's too much interference."

"Then we'll get a snowcat to the next base." Said Edvard. "Colin, get your gear. _Lars, it's time to go."_

"I don't think that's a good idea." Said Kate, entering the room with a grim look on her face.

"And why's that." Said Sander.

"Because no one can leave this camp until we know more about what's going on here." She replied.

"I make decisions about this camp!" Said Edvard.

"I know Edvard but..."

"Why did you flag down that helicopter?" Sander interrupted.

"Because I thought it was in danger." Said the palaeontologist. "I took a sample of that thing's blood, added it to some human blood, and I saw that the alien cells were still alive. They were copying the human cells. Replicating them." She paused to let this sink in. "Adam saw it too."

The entire group turned to Adam.

"Is that true?" Said Sander.

Adam was at a loss. There was value in Kate's analysis but he didn't have the nerve to go up against his boss. Hurriedly, he thought of a neutral answer. "I don't know. I don't, I don't know what we saw. I mean, I know, we saw, we saw something."

"I don't understand." Said Juliette. "What are you saying?"

"That this thing can, and probably has replicated a person." Said Kate.

The group's responses ranged from concern, to bafflement. Some cried "What?" Others "Who?" But most responded with some form of "How can you possibly believe this?" Several looked concerned for her sanity.

"Whoa, whoa, ok, ok, Kate." Said Sander, sternly silencing the group. " This is not the time to be yelling fire! Let's stop and think for a moment. We can discuss this in private."

"We don't need any private meetings doctor." Colin interjected. "We all want the fucking information!"

"There's more." Kate continued. She pulled the tissue from her pocket and threw it on the table.

"What are those?" Said Jonas.

"I think they're... fillings from someone's teeth." Said Kate. "I found them by a puddle of blood in the shower. It can clone cells but not inorganic material. It couldn't copy these so it spat them out."

"But it seems everyone is fine." Said Sander.

"Right." Said Kate. "So, either someone has the miraculous power to heal themselves or someone is not who they say they are.

Edvard considered her words. She clearly thought she had worked out something two professional microbiologists couldn't. Plus any attempt to investigate her claims would just endanger the stranded helicopter crew more.

"We've wasted enough time already." Said the commander. "Lars..."

"Listen!" Cried Kate, getting increasingly desperate. "When I went back to check the blood, someone had cleaned it up. Someone had wiped it away. That means that whatever it is, it is still here."

I've heard enough." Said Edvard. "Lars, Colin, get your gear. Ten minutes."

"Please, Edvard, you can't leave!" Kate shouted, as the group filed by. "You don't know what we're dealing with!"

But the team ignored her and continued to stroll past. She swore that she could hear someone muttering "I think she's lost it."

"Well done." Said Sander, sarcastically, and followed the group out.

Kate knew that her words had affected at least some of them. But that would do them no good if the thing escaped soon. She had to think of something fast.

Her mind flew over many desperate ideas. Finally, she resolved to talk to Colin alone. He had seemed more open minded than most and could possibly keep an eye on the thing at the next base.

Before she did, however, she saw that Juliette was still there.

"Kate." Said the Frenchwoman. "I don't know if I should be speaking about this. I don't want to get anyone in trouble..."

"Speaking about what?" Said the American.

"You were saying about someone clearing up the blood from the shower. Someone here may not be themselves..."

"Juliette please. What did you see?"

"After the crash. I think, I saw Colin coming from the showers. He was holding something. It could have been a towel or rag. Something to clean up. Kate I can't say for sure. It's just, the last day..."

Juliette paused as she spotted something across the hall. Kate followed their gaze and saw Colin stuffing some warm clothes in a bag. He scowled at the two of them as if he knew they were up to something.

"He's leaving with Edvard and Lars. We can't let him go. We can't let any of them go." Kate said.

"I know where they keep the keys to the vehicles." Said Juliete.

* * *

Juliette led Kate to a storeroom and pointed to a cabinet at the far end. "Top drawer."

Kate pulled the drawer open, revealing several bunches of keys. "How many am I looking for?" She asked.

"Five." The Frenchwoman replied.

Kate pulled out four bunches but couldn't find the fifth. She reached further back and fumbled around in the drawer but found nothing but empty space. She was about to ask about this when she became aware of a squelching sound behind her. Very slowly, she turned around.

Juliette's clothes were hanging off in rags. The flesh all over her body was writhing and churning as if something big was moving beneath her skin. Her head rolled back and her torso split open, forming into a huge mouth. Massive fangs, two feet long sprouted from the jaw than was forming, while Juliette's arms and legs contorted into enormous claws.

Kate knew she'd been a fool. She'd assumed she could trust Juliette and let herself be led to a quiet part of the base where it could eliminate the last threat to its secrecy. And now it was between her and the entrance.

* * *

**Author's notes: I really don't understand why so many people complain about the helicopter scene. I thought the reasons for Griggs-thing revealing itself were pretty clear when I watched the film. As for why it reassures Olav, it's simply maintaining its human persona while it decides.**

**Juliette-thing is harder to justify. It just had to keep quiet and Kate would probably never have convinced anyone of its existence in time. My best guess is that it doesn't want to take that chance when it can assimilate Kate and seal the planet's fate. She seemingly has no escape after all.**

**The scene with Windows is simply what went through my head when I watched the extended scenes.**


	9. 8-A Special Kind Of Nightmare

**Chapter 8: A Special Kind Of Nightmare**

Lars surveyed the long range snowcat and quickly identified a problem. During the night a stiff gale had blown through the garage and the snowcat's drive mechanism was now heavily iced up. There were plenty of defrosting methods he could employ. But, since the circumstances called for expediency to use one of the station's flamethrowers

The mechanic sprayed the mechanism with fire, watching as water poured off the vehicle like rain. Once he'd loosened the ice, he'd scrape off what was left.

Just then, an enormous crashing sound from the main building caught his attention, along with a lot of shouting and screaming. Without a second's thought, Lars ran in that direction.

* * *

As the thing that had once been Juliette charged, Kate's fight or flight response kicked in and she flung herself to the right. The thing's momentum carried it straight into the cupboard, granting the palaeontologist a few seconds to get away. Spotting a gap between a row of shelving units and the wall, Kate rushed between them.

The thing quickly recovered. As it wheeled around on her once more, Kate kicked out against the wall and threw her full weight against the first set of shelves, toppling them over. Several hundred pounds of equipment crashed down upon the creature but it batted it away like a pillow.

Kate hadn't stopped to watch, however, she ran down the gap, knowing that she had to get to the end before the creature. Behind her, one of the shelving units slammed into the wall as the thing attempted to crush her missing by inches. Kate had never been so glad that she kept in shape.

At the end of the line, stood a desk, which Kate vaulted and dived out of the door. Once out, she wheeled to the right and took off down the corridor.

Ahead of her, Karl stepped out of a room and asked what was going on.

"RUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUN!" Was all Kate could scream, as she shot past.

Karl, however, took a step forward out of curiosity and found himself face to face with the Juliette-thing, as it burst out of the storeroom.

Before Karl had time to run, The thing impaled him with one of its clawed arms. It quickly twisted upwards and caught his ribcage, lifting the helpless German off the ground.

Kate reached the door at the end of the corridor. Looking back, she spotted Karl's plight but knew there was nothing she could do to help. Instead, she slammed the door. and backed away.

In the adjacent corridor, Adam, Jonas and Colin came rushing over to see what was happening.

"It got Karl!" Kate gasped and repeated herself several times.

"Who did?" Said Adam, before an unearthly screaming sound from the other side of the door answered his question.

At this point, Lars came running from the other end of the corridor. The flamethrower still strapped to his back.

"Lars, burn it!" Shouted Kate. Pointing to the torch and the door.

Lars had sussed the situation from the screams and groans emanating from the door and didn't need telling twice. Holding the flamethrower in both hands, he directed it at the door while Kate carefuly took hold of the handle and threw it open.

Lars paused in amazement when he saw what they were dealing with. Some horrific monster was crouched over Karl's body extending a selection of tentacles into his back. What was left of Juliette hung limp off what could loosely be described as its back. Something in her eyes made the mechanic wonder if her mind could still be alive in there, but in no control of her own body. The concept didn't bear thinking about.

"Burn it!" Kate urged him.

The thing responded to Kate's shout by abandoning Karl and charging the group. But Lars was too quick and hit it with a jet of flame. The creature lit up instantly but continued forward.

The group parted before it but the thing ignored them. Instead, charging across the hall and into the kitchen. After a few seconds fumbling on the wall, it found what it was looking for. A button which activated the kitchen sprinklers. Water rained down from the ceiling and began to extinguish the flames. The thing's ability to resist their only weapon added another level to the fear the humans felt.

The creature spun round to renew its attack but found its way blocked by Lars. The Norwegian hit it another blast, much longer this time. For a few seconds, the monster thrashed wildly. Caught in the middle of an epic battle between fire and water. But Lars's flamethrower had been designed to function in Antarctic blizzards. The weak sprinklers made very little difference and it wasn't long before the thing collapsed, unable to fight any further.

Jonas fetched a fire extinguisher. He waited until the creature had stopped moving then put out the blaze. The team breathed a sigh of relief.

"Where's Karl?" Said Colin, who was looking back up the corridor.

The others turned and discovered that the body had vanished. A huge patch of blood marked the spot where it had been. Away from it led a series of bloody footprints. The team followed them down the hall and into a study, where they disappeared behind a desk.

From behind the desk, Karl now raised himself up. His clothes were in tatters but, otherwise, there wasn't a mark on him. It was only when he raised his right arm that it became visibly apparent that anything was up. His flesh was clear and stretched, just as Henrik's had been.

Karl opened his mouth and emitted the same unholy screeching roaring noise they'd heard too many times already.

_"That's not Karl."_ Said Lars and promptly torched it. Karl-thing roared and tried to make an attack but Lars drew his revolver and shot it through the kneecaps. Temporarily disabling it while the flames consumed it.

* * *

"What are you doing?" Sander demanded, coming into the lab to find Edvard and Jonas carrying the alien creature out between them, while Lars stood guard.

"We can't let a single cell survive." Said Kate. "We have incinerate these things completely."

"I'm in charge of this discovery!" Said Sander.

"Your research will do no good if it destroys the world." Said Jonas.

"We destroyed those things. They're no threat."

"It's still alive on a cellular level." Said Kate. "We know it can change form. It can reform itself at any time and kill us all."

"Are you listening to her?" Sander cried. He looked around for support but got none. Desperately, he stood in the doorway, blocking their path. "I cannot allow you to do this!"

But Lars now directed his flamethrower at the microbiologist. _"Suppose you're one of them? Trying to protect your friends. Move aside or I burn you with them."_

Sander sensed the seriousness in the Norwegian's voice and did as instructed. _"You'll regret this." _He Snarled. "All of you!"

"Sir, I think you should see this." Said Adam, beckoning him over to a microscope, where he'd repeated Kate's experiment with the blood.

Sander peered down the lens and gasped as he finally realised just how much danger they were in.

"Why did you wait until now to show me?" He told Adam angrily. He turned to the others and said. "There's some sealed bags in this case. It will make it safer to move."

* * *

In Colin's room, Peder found the Englishman sat on his bed looking solemn. Karl had been his only friend there and now he was alone among a group of strangers whom he had little connection with. Plus a terrifying, shape shifting monster.

"Colin, we need help moving..." Peder began but paused as Colin snatched a shaving razor from a bag and pointed it at him.

"Keep back!" He yelled.

"Colin, what are you..."

"That thing tried to imitate Karl. We never spotted Juliette. Why should I trust any of you?"

"You'll just have to." Said Peder, sternly. "Now come on, we're moving those things."

"I'm going nowhere with you." Snarled Colin. "I know what you're up to. Now piss off!"

Colin wasn't alone in his paranoia. Across the base, everyone was eyeing each other nervously, expecting them to morph into spaghetti monsters at any moment. They were at war now and every man could rely only on his own recourses. Any attempt to confide in someone else could lead them into a trap. Peder knew that he would have to arm himself if he was to fight alone.

* * *

**Author's notes: I don't believe the theory that infected people don't know they're infected. Or that they're even still alive (it spends the films sneaking around sabotaging their attempts to find out who's who. The host is going to realise that something's not right.) However, several characters clearly believe this and that alone adds to the sense of paranoia.**

**I think the group probably did have trouble, off screen, convincing Sander to destroy the bodies. He's been stubborn throughout after all.**


	10. 9-The Burn Pit

**Chapter 9: The Burn Pit.**

Keeping to the shadows, careful not to be seen, Colin crept up to the equipment shed, determined to find the other flamethrower. He opened the door and promptly leapt in alarm as he was greeted by Peder, who'd already had it strapped to his back.

"What the fuck are you doing here?" Colin cried.

"I might ask you the same question." Peder replied.

The two men stared at each other for a few moments, each uncertain of the others intentions. Finally, they moved away, keeping a careful eye on each other.

* * *

A pit had been dug in the courtyard and the bottom filled with kerosene. The bodies of the things were thrown in and several more barrels of kerosene poured over the heap.

_"That's enough. Get back."_ Said Lars and directed his flamethrower at the pit. _"Burn in hell."_ He snarled as he lit the whole mess up. A mass of flames shot up, stretching half a metre or so above the pit's lip. Even in the midst of the blizzard that was picking up, they could feel the heat radiating off from it. It comforted them slightly to know that nothing could survive that.

"What the fuck's happening to us?" Said Peder, finally asking the question they'd been afraid of for the last few hours.

Kate replied. "This thing attacks its prey Copies it perfectly, and hides then inside it. Waiting."

"Is it still among us?" Jonas asked nervously.

"It could be any of us."

Everyone instinctively edged away from whoever was nearest them.

"We've got to get out of here." Said Adam.

"Yeah, right now." Colin agreed.

"You could be getting into a vehicle with it." Said Kate. "You'd be alone. Venerable. It's exactly what it wants. Not to mention, you'd be giving it a way out of here. A way to spread. It's like a virus. So what do we do with viruses?"

"Quarantine." Said Adam, though he sounded not too keen on the prospect. "We isolate it and then we kill it."

"That's a scary thought." Said Peder. "The eight of us are this planet's only defence right now!"

"Not even all eight." Kate reminded him.

"I think I've got an idea who isn't" Colin piped up, gesturing to Peder with his razor. "Where were you when we were trying to deal with the helicopter? All the others gathered straight away. You took longer."

"I was getting some maps from the storeroom."

"You were wiping up the blood!" Colin spat.

"It would only have taken a minute." Said Adam. "None of us were paying attention. Anyone could have got to it."

"And do you think I trust you?" Said Colin, turning to jab his razor at the American. "You knew what this bloody thing could do but you didn't tell us till it was too late!"

"I..." Adam struggled but could think of no way of explaining his actions. Instead he responded with counterattack. "What about you? You gave up on that radio pretty quickly. It might not have been dead. You just don't want reinforcements getting in! And why are you so keen to be alone right now unless you're planning something?"

"Let's look at this logically." Said Edvard. "Was anyone alone with Juliette at any point today?"

"Peder was." Said Adam, realising. "He was helping with her reports. Maybe Colin has a point. You don't want anyone else to have a flamethrower. You're trying to haul our weapons! And I haven't seen you with a cigarette all day!"

"Can I point out that you were alone in the lab with that creature all night. If it wasn't dead, it could have got to you! You still haven't explained why you never warned us."

"I was in the lab with him." Kate interjected.

"That only brings you into suspicion." Said the Norwegian.

As the group continued to argue in English. Sander moved over to Edvard for a quiet word in Norwegian. _"Kate shared a room with Juliette. We should keep an eye on her."_

But Lars overheard _"Kate tried to warn us. If you two had listened, we could have done something. If anyone, it's you we should suspect!"_

_"Is this supposed to clear her?"_ Said Edvard. "_What better way to confuse us than by pretending to be helpful?"_

"This is no good." Kate said finally. "We've all been alone at some point today. That thing could have got to any of us. Whoever it did get to could have got to anyone else. This is just what it wants, for us to turn against each other."

"We have to rely on science." Said Sander. "Exposing our own, uncontaminated, blood to the cells of the creature should create some kind of reaction."

"Then we take blood samples from everybody, and we test each one of them." Said Adam.

"How long will this take to prepare?" Edvard asked.

"Adam and I can prepare it in a couple of hours." The microbiologist replied.

"Ok." Said Kate. "Lars and I can disable the vehicles." She looked around at a sea of worried faces. Some doubted Sander, others her, others the validity of the test. "We have to trust in this plan." She reassured them. "It's our only chance of making it through this."

"In the meantime." Said Edvard. "The rest of you into the rec room. It may be best if we stay together for the time being."

Feeling only slightly more optimistic about their prospects, the group separated, leaving the fire to destroy a small part of their enemy.

Sander looked at the flames, for a moment, and sighed as his Nobel Prize dreams literally went up in smoke. Just a few days ago, he'd been on the verge of the greatest discovery of his career. One that would define the future of humanity. Now, his only concern was to ensure that humanity still had a future.

* * *

As Kate held the light, Lars lifted the engine cover and cut all the lines to the fuel injectors. To a trained mechanic, this would be a simple problem to fix. Fortunately Lars was the only trained mechanic on the base and the creature would, hopefully, be unable to perform a diagnostic by the time someone could stop it.

Kate asked him something in English. Lars couldn't understand but could guess what she'd be asking.

_"Done here."_ He replied.

"No more vehicles?" Said Kate.

"No vehicles." Lars nodded. At least he understood what those words meant.

With his task done. Lars climbed out of the snowcat's cab. He glanced around the garage for anything else the thing might want to utilise. Already, he'd disabled the vehicles, moved all but one set of keys to the base's strong box and hidden a particular crate he didn't want falling into the wrong hands. Secrecy was the best thing he had going for him right now. However, it occurred to him that if anything were to happen to him, his actions would leave the remaining humans with no weapons. He couldn't tell anyone where the crate was hidden since anyone could be one of those creatures.

As Lars pondered this predicament, Kate emerged from the other side of the vehicle. She alone, the dog handler could trust, whatever the others might say. She'd done the most to hinder this creature already.

As Kate looked over to see what was troubling the Norwegian, he beckoned her over. Lars guided her over to where he'd hidden the crate under some equipment and opened it up to show her what was inside.

"Grenades?" Said Kate.

_"Thermite charges."_ Lars replied, his vague knowledge of English telling him that Kate had guessed correctly. Technically, they were designed for loosening particularly tough chunks of ice. But, if the firing pin were removed manualy, they could serve the same function as a hand grenade. Other than the flamethrowers, these charges were the humans best hope.

"Is everything alright?" Said Edvard's voice, at the door. They'd been gone longer than expected and he was beginning to get suspicious. Lars quickly shut the crate and hid it again.

"Everything's fine." Said Kate, cottoning on that Lars wanted the box to remain hidden.

"The storm's getting worse." Said the commander "We'd better move inside. _Lars, we should move in."_

* * *

**Author's Notes: The original version of the group scene featured a lot of arguing between Peder, Adam and Colin, but was re-filmed to give more lines to Kate and Sander. What I've tried to do here is a merging of the two ideas. It was a lot of fun thinking of the reasons they probably suspected each other.**

**Lars probably does know a few English words, hence why he and Kate can understand each other to some extent. He just doesn't know enough to maintain a conversation.**


	11. 10-Who Goes There?

**Chapter 10: Who Goes There?**

The blizzard was certainly getting worse, making the visibility poor for the group as they struggled back to the entrance. They could just make out the vague outline of the main building up ahead, but even that would go once the wind picked up further. All in all, they were glad to have the rope to guide them along.

As they neared the entrance, Peder came rushing down, with Jonas following behind. "Have you seen Colin?" He shouted. "He disappeared from the rec room while we were playing cards!"

"He's not come this way! You'd better find him, and fast!" Edvard cried. "You two check the corridors. Lars..."

Edvard trailed off as he saw that Lars was staring at something away from the camp. They followed his gaze and saw two figures staggering towards them. Clinging on to each other for support.

"Who goes there?" Roared Peder.

One of the figures tried to respond but all that came out was a muffled groan. Only when they came within a few metres of the team did it become possible to see their faces. Their skin was pale from the cold and snow was plastered over their faces. Nonetheless, it was clear who they were. It was the pilots, Carter and Jameson. But that couldn't be right.

"Its impossible for a human to have survived that crash!" Peder cried. "We should burn them! Right Here. Right now."

The Americans cowered in terror, but they had barely enough strength left to stand, much less fight.

"Peder, it could be murder!" Shouted Kate.

"It could be survival Kate." Edvard pointed out.

"If they're still human, killing them will do us no good." Said the palaeontologist. "We should lock them up until Sander's test is ready. Please."

Peder lowered his flamethrower.

* * *

Sander and Adam's work was taking longer than expected. Each was working at opposite ends of the lab. Avoiding eye contact but glancing over occasionally to make sure the other wasn't trying to rig the test, or even preparing an attack. They couldn't even trust anyone to stand guard.

"I'm going to get some blood samples." Said Sander, standing up. Adam nodded in acknowledgement.

* * *

Holding them at flamethrower point, Lars guided the pilots over to the core shed, which was furthest from the main building. Peder lit one of the paraffin heaters, for them to warm up with, and placed some food on top. But none dared go near the two of them.

Carter took a gulp of water and finally recovered some speech. "So that's a good idea, locking us up? You need our help." He gasped. He waited for some kind of response, but Kate just looked at him coldly. Carter tried to stand but Lars jabbed the flamethrower at him snarling _"Don't move, demons!"_

"Ok." Carter said, accompanied by some calm hand gestures. "Kate," he pleaded, glancing nervously at the Norwegian "A bunch of scientists can't handle what we saw in that chopper. You need our help."

"For all we know, you could be one of those things. It is hard to believe that you both walked away from that crash." Said Kate.

"Yeah, I get that, I really do, but..."

"We're preparing a test. And then we'll figure out who's who. That's all I can offer you right now. We'll be back to check on you when the test is ready. Then we'll know." Kate said, as she and Lars made their way out. Bolting the door behind them.

Her mind was in turmoil as to whether Carter was truly concerned for the base's safety or whether

he planned to join those things. She was just glad that the test would clear everything up soon.

Just as she was thinking this however, she looked back to the main building and saw something which made the situation much more complicated. An intense fire was burning in part of the main building. And she was pretty sure that it was in the lab.

The two of them ran for the main entrance.

* * *

Peder and Jonas pulled open the door to a supply cupboard, which contained the extinguishers they needed. It also contained Colin.

"What are you doing?" Peder roared.

"Hiding! What does it bloody well look like?" The Englishman responded.

Peder didn't have time to question further. "Stand over there. Don't even think about moving!"

The Norwegians grabbed an extinguisher each and rushed into the lab. Inside, flames covered every surface and were creeping up the walls. The freezer, in which Sander had kept some samples for analysis, lay open, with its contents ablaze.

The two of them sprayed the entire room with CO2 and the flames soon began to die down. As Jonas was clearing the space under one of the tables, he spotted a can of kerosene which had been emptied out. This confirmed their suspicions. The fire was no accident. The thing had outwitted them once more. It could probably counter any plan they may make against it.

Chocking on the smoke, the two of them made their way out. The rest of the team were gathering now to see what was going on.

"Someone sabotaged it." Said Jonas. " There's nothing left. nothing! Now there's no test."

"How did this happen?" Cried Adam.

"That was no accident. You!" Snarled Colin. "You were in there with it. You were the last one."

"Are you accusing me?" The American cried.

"Why not? He's got something to hide." Said Colin.

"Are you some kind of asshole. I was the one working on the test. I left for two minutes!" Adam screamed.

"You just don't want us to know the truth!" Shouted the Englishman.

"Bullshit!" Adam screamed. The two of them leapt at each other with murderous looks in their eyes. Edvard and Peder held them apart as they hurled abuse at each other. The others stood back, unsure who to side with.

"I'm the only one who done any fucking thing to get us out of this fucking nightmare!" Adam roared.

"You burnt the only fucking way to tell!"

"Will everyone calm down!" Shouted Kate, showing authority she was unaware she was capable of. The others fell silent. "I think there may be another way to tell." She said.

* * *

**Author's notes: This part of the film does show why the thing is just as intelligent as it was in the 1982 film. Hindering their plans at every step.**


	12. 11-The Test

**Chapter 11: The Test**

The corridor didn't allow enough space for what Kate planned to do. Instead, she led them to the cafeteria, the nearest which allowed them to stand a good distance apart. They gathered in a circle and looked towards her.

Kate looked at each man, trying to decide whom to ask first. "Peder, give me your flashlight." She said. Peder handed it over. "Good. Now tell Lars to open his mouth."

"What?" Said Peder.

"Tell him to open his mouth." Kate repeated.

Peder thought for a moment. Logically, any test anyone proposed could be the thing trying to trick them. _"Lars, open your mouth."_ He said finally.

Lars looked almost as confused but opened up anyway. Kate shone the light in and quickly found what she was looking for.

"Good. Lars has fillings," she said, pointing," so he's human. This thing can't replicate inorganic matter. See?" She shone the light in her own mouth for the others to see. Her own fillings were clearly evident.

Lars seemed to understand what she was showing them. A quick word with Peder confirmed his deductions. Her idea made logical sense and was at least more constructive than wild accusations. As Kate moved round to check the others, Lars stood by her, flamethrower at the ready, in case these thins showed any resistance.

Peder still wasn't certain about Kate's motivations. Nonetheless, he had nothing to fear personally and opened his mouth. Kate found two fillings on his back teeth and nodded, before moving on to Jonas.

Jonas hesitated. Too afraid of what would happen if she looked in his mouth and his fillings were gone. Only when Lars held the flamethrower up to his face, barking _"C'mon. You're next!"_ Did he finally cooperate. Kate had a look and gave the same nod she'd given the others. Jonas had never felt so relieved.

"This isn't completely effective. But, right now it's, at least now it's something." Said Kate. "A way to eliminate some of us."

"So now I'm going to get killed because I floss?" Said Adam.

"No one's getting killed." Kate reassured him.

"Kate, please." Adam tried to reason with his friend. Desperate for a way to escape the suspicion which had fallen on him.

"Just do it." Said Kate. Adam pleaded several more times, but Kate responded with stern looks. She couldn't afford to treat anyone as friends. Not after what had happened with Juliette.

"Kate..." Adam pleaded again. but Lars held up his weapon once more.

_"Open your mouth weasel."_ He snarled.

This had the desired effect and Adam finally opened up. Kate scoured every corner of his mouth but could find no trace of anything artificial. The palaeontologist was silent for a moment, with no idea what to do next.

"Just stand over there by the wall." She said finally.

Adam did as she said. Peder now raised his flamethrower to guard the American while Lars continued to enforce Kate.

Kate moved on to Sander, who was next in the circle. The microbiologist did not look impressed with her solution.

"Kate." He said. "You know as well as I do that there are too many variables."

"Open your mouth." Kate snarled, trying to hide her anger. "I've already told you the difficulties. At least this way we're getting somewhere." Even after everything that had happened he was still assigning no value to her opinions. Or else, he was trying to hide something.

Sander sighed and mentally prepared another objection but Kate stopped him.

"OPEN YOUR MOUTH!" She shouted. She'd had enough of trying to reason with this idiot.

Sander's eyes narrowed. "My fillings are porcelain." He said simply.

"Stand over there, next to Adam." Said Kate. She looked around at the last two untested personnel. "Does anyone else have porcelain fillings? Or healthy teeth?" Colin, who was closest so she went to check him first.

"This is bloody absurd!" The Englishman growled. He advanced on the palaeontologist angrily. But Lars moved in quickly, jabbing him with the flamethrower's nozzle and shoving him against a wall.

_"Open your mouth for God's sake!" _Lars roared at him. Colin's face twisted in rage and Lars prepared to torch him if he showed the slightest sign of transforming. If this thing was to show itself, surely now would be the moment.

But Colin remained in human form and resigned himself to opening his mouth. Sure enough, he had no fillings.

"Stand over there. Next to the others." Said Kate.

"This is wrong." Colin pleaded, as Lars grabbed him by the shoulder and frogmarched him towards the uncertain group. He and Adam looked at each other uneasily and tried to stand as far apart as they could without arousing further suspicion.

Edvard was last. The commander tried to think of some way to make Kate reconsider. He wasn't too keen to be made to stand at flamethrower point while the others tried to determine whether he was human. He with no control over their decision. But he knew that arguing would do him no good. Without a word, he simply walked over to stand between Sander and Adam.

The four people whom the test had cleared looked at the four opposite them who stared back with a mix of irritation and fear. It was unnerving to think that they were staring those things in the eye but still had no way of knowing who it was. Nonetheless, it was good to have friends they could trust once more. Now, they could work out a solution together.

"Jonas, you and Lars get Carter and Jameson and bring them in so we can test them too." Said Kate.

"Why can't we just leave them where they are?" They can't do anything." Said Jonas, who was not keen to have to face the thing directly again. Even the uncertain group were giving him the creeps.

"We have to be sure." Said Kate. "If they're human, they can help us."

"But what if..." Jonas began. But Lars cut him off.

_"What's she saying?"_ The dog handler asked.

_"She wants us to get the Americans."_ Jonas replied.

_"Let's go then."_

Jonas complied. Lars was reassuring to be around and he would feel safer with the large man guarding him, especially now that he no longer had to second guess everything he did.

As they were pulling on their coats, Lars offered Jonas his revolver but he refused. He had no weapons training and it wouldn't do a lot of good against that thing anyway. Pulling on snow goggles, they opened the door and marched out into the Antarctic blizzard.

_"She's clever."_ Edvard noted.

Sander shrugged.

_"And now she's in charge."_ The Norwegian added.

This last remark infuriated the Dane.

* * *

The Norwegians made slow progress towards the core shed. The wind was really bad now and it was difficult to see their hands in front of their faces. Lars had lit a flare, which at least gave them some guidance, but also turned their view into a pink haze.

Finally, they reached the door. After a few seconds fumbling with the padlock, Lars got it open.

They had a bad feeling the moment they stepped in. The building was too quiet and too cold. Sure enough, as they rounded the end of the rows of shelves, they found two empty chairs, stationed around the paraffin heater. In the back, snow was blowing in through a hole which the pilots had smashed in the planks.

_"Shit."_ Said Lars. _"They've escaped."_

_"Lars, let's go back inside."_ Said Jonas .

_"No. We've got to find them!"_ Lars replied, spinning round and marching out of the door.

_"Lars!"_ Jonas called, realising what his friend was proposing. _"Lars! They aren't human! Be careful!"_

But Lars wasn't listening. That thing had killed some of his friends, forced the others to turn against each other, and it still hid in the shadows like a coward. Unlike Jonas, Lars was determined for the opportunity to meet it face to face.

Behind him, Jonas was desperately trying to make him see that it would be better to get the others help. Lars was just beginning to see his point when he heard a crashing noise in another shed, where someone had knocked something over. It was with a growing sense of alarm that Lars realised that that building was where he'd hidden the base's weapons case. The Antarctic treaty forbade any military activity on the continent, but did allow a small number of firearms to be used for hunting food in an emergency. But if that thing got hold of a gun...

Without thinking, Lars charged into the shed. Jonas watched in horror as someone grabbed his friend and yanked him out of sight. The researcher thought desperately for something he could do but nothing came to mind. He ran, as fast as possible, back towards the others.

* * *

**Author's notes: According to the Antarctic treaty, you are allowed to use military equipment if it's for scientific or peaceful purposes. I presume this allows for guns since I did some research and came across a webpage entitled Dome C FAQ, in which someone who's been to Antarctica was asked about the accuracy of the films and said that they did have one gun at their base but it had never been fired and no-one was sure why it was there.**


	13. 12-Power Struggle

**Chapter 12-Power Struggle**

Sander was fuming. This woman had been treating him like an idiot from the start. He'd tried to be understanding with her but she continued to act as though she knew best. Her test solved nothing. Merely alienated some of them further. He had to put a stop to this.

_"Peder."_ He said, knowing that Kate wouldn't be able to understand him. _"The enemy isn't in here. It's out there. The Americans are the real enemy."_

_"He's right Peder."_ Edvard joined in. _"You need our help if you want to find this creature. You can't imprison us forever."_

_"She's lying to you."_ Sander continued. _"Trying to implicate anyone who can help."_

It unnerved Kate that she couldn't understand them. Couldn't directly address what they were saying. She could see the doubt creeping over Peder's face. Already she regretted sending Lars away instead of him.

"Peder." She said. "Whatever they're saying it doesn't matter. You can't trust them. We have to rely on that right now."

A furious banging on the door caught her attention and Kate carefully backed away from the standoff, guided by the sound which was becoming more frantic by the second. Outside, she could hear Jonas screaming her name.

The second she lifted the lock, Jonas threw himself through the doorway, slamming the door and locking it behind him. Lars was nowhere to be seen.

"What happened?" Cried Kate. "Where are the rest?"

"They attacked him!" Jonas shouted. He rushed past her to warn the only other man with a flamethrower. "They got Lars!" He shouted again as he charged into the cafeteria.

At this point everyone began shouting at once.

_"Peder, they got Lars. We have to do something!"_ Cried Edvard.

_"Now do you see what's happening here?"_ Shouted Sander.

Colin and Adam too joined in, desperately shouting in English to get Peder moving.

"We can't trust them! Stay on them Peder!" Kate screamed. She sensed her control of the situation crumbling around her.

Peder was at a loss of what to do. Everyone was shouting different things. He didn't trust Kate, but he trusted the uncertain group even less. He certainly didn't want to turn his back on them to go chasing after the Americans. But he couldn't just stand and do nothing. This wasn't what he'd signed up for.

The mass of voices was growing louder and more confused. But then another noise made the room fall silent. The sound of a window smashing somewhere in the building. The pilots were inside.

This made up Peder's mind. The Norwegian rushed from the room and down the corridor, towards the noise. The others ran after him. Their internal disputes temporarily forgotten.

Peder rounded a corner and found himself face to face with Carter and Jameson.

"DROP IT!" Shouted Carter, brandishing Lars's flamethrower.

Peder ignored them and brandished his own weapon at the pilots. "HVA FAEN HAR DU GJORT MED LARS?" He roared, slipping into his own tongue.

"CALM DOWN!" Carter roared.

"WHERTHAFUKITHLARS?" Peder shouted, anything but calm.

" CALM DOWN!" Carter roared again.

"WHAT THE FUCK HAVE YOU DONE WITH LARS?!" Peder finally managed to shout.

"JUST DROP YOUR WEAPON!"

"WHERE IS LARS?"

"SOMEONE TELL HIM!" Carter shouted at the rest of the team, who were hiding round the corner.

But Edvard had no wish to cooperate. _"Peder, don't listen to him!"_

"PUT IT DOWN!" Carter shouted once more.

_"They killed Lars! Burn them! Burn them!"_ Edvard cried.

Peder made up his mind and stepped forward to fire. But Jameson was faster. The pilot whipped out Lars's revolver and fired three shots, piercing the Norwegian through the shoulder. Peder promptly collapsed.

In the stunned silence that followed, Edvard was the first to move. Raising his hands and edging carefully round the corner. Carter and Jameson quickly directed their weapons at him.

"I just want to check on my friend." Edvard said slowly. With the pilots covering him every second, he bent down to look at Peder. His second is command was still breathing weakly and Edvard hoped they could get him medical attention later. But he had a more pressing concern. How to get hold of the torch without the Americans noticing. So focused was he on the torch that he failed to notice the bullet hole in the tank, nor the stream of fuel which was leaking out and trickling towards the base flame.

Jonas, however, did notice. _"Run!"_ He shouted. _"It's gona' blow!"_

The team rushed round the corner and threw themselves to the floor. Carter and Jameson ran for cover in the opposite direction. Edvard ran to join his team, but couldn't get to the corner in time. The cylinders exploded with enough force to smash a hole in the wall and send shockwaves down the corridor. The shockwave lifted Edvard off the ground and slammed him into the wall. He fell to the floor a mass of broken bones.

Jonas nervously looked over Edvard, who was gasping in pain, then peered round the corner. Everything within three metres of the explosion was ablaze. In the centre lay a blackened husk which had once been Peder. Through the flames ran the pilots, who now had the only weapons. If they were infected, there was nothing the humans could do now.

"Everyone into the rec room!" Announced Carter. Noticing Edvard on the floor, he gestured to Jonas and Colin "You two, carry him."

With no choice in the matter, the team went as he directed. Some desperately looking for an escape or a weapon they could grab. Others cursing that they hadn't burnt the Americans the moment they'd returned to camp.

Kate alone looked comfortable. "Not all of us are human." She warned Carter as she sat on one of the rec room's couches. He looked slightly surprised by that comment.

As the others found somewhere to sit, Jonas and Colin stumbled in, each having taken one of Edvard's arms to carry him by. What Jonas didn't realise was that the arm he was holding had been badly shattered around the shoulder, and the bone fragments had torn through much of the muscle in the process. As they entered the rec room, the stress finally proved too much and the entire arm ripped off.

The arm, startled at being cut off from the main body, instinctively reacted to sustain itself, forming its own organs and sprouting large insect-like legs. Edvard was one of those things!

* * *

**Author's notes: For a few reasons, I've had to write several paragraphs from Edvard-thing's point of view. My assumption is that the thing is trying to think in terms of what the host would be thinking.**

**I've also added in some lines in which it pretends to be helpful. It's supposed to be the base commander and hiding in the background isn't really an option. Besides which, it had other things playing that purpose for it.**

**I think Kate's test does make sense. If the thing operates like a virus, of course it can't infect metal. It also can't replicate clothes, but then it simply has to pull on new ones (just as it does with its first, on screen, human victim in the Carpenter film.) Fillings, however, would be too difficult to put back. There is another problem though, which I'll address later.**


	14. 13-Battle In The Rec Room

**Chapter 13: Battle in the Rec Room**

Jonas screamed as the arm-thing's legs dug into his own arm. Desperately, he tried to shake it off. He attempted to pry it off and even banged it against the bookcase, but it was too strong. It advanced, slowly but menacingly, up his arm and on to his shoulder.

"GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!" The Norwegian wailed.

Some of the group stood stunned, others tried to find a way to help Jonas. Colin realised that no one was looking his way and quickly fled the room.

Jonas tried to push the arm back, but it had a grip like iron and was now barely 5 centimetres from his face. The end nearest him began to open up into some kind of hideous toothless mouth, snarling at him. Jonas screamed harder than ever, just as the thing made one final push and clamped itself over his mouth, where it began to pump some sickening fluid down his throat.

Carter was taking aim with his flamethrower. He couldn't shoot that thing now or he'd burn Jonas with it. But he was starting to think that may be better for him. Just then though, a growling gurgling sound behind him caught his attention. They'd been so preoccupied with the arm that they'd forgotten the rest of Edvard-thing, lying on the floor. Now, it was roaring at them and something was writhing beneath his shirt.

"BURN IT!" Kate screamed.

Carter took aim and pulled the trigger. A jet of flame burst out but quickly spluttered and died. He tried again. This time, nothing happened.

"Burn it man!" Shouted Jameson.

"Something's wrong with it!" Carter shouted. Something must have gotten damaged in the explosion.

"GOD DAMN IT CARTER. BURN IT!" Adam wailed as he pressed himself against the wall with all his strength.

Edvard's belly ripped open and a huge tentacle, with a razor sharp end sprang out. It swiped at the group, who quickly scrambled away.

"Carter! Table!" Shouted Jameson. The two of them flipped the pool table on its side to form a makeshift barricade. With Kate rushing to join them. Carter pulled off the flamethrower to have a look at it. The fuel line had become disconnected and he would have to re-attach it quickly. His work was interrupted briefly as the tentacle struck, smashing a hole their barricade and missing the two of them by inches.

Sander used this opportunity to run the way Colin had gone. Seeing that there was no other way out, Adam ran after him. But the tentacle was too fast. It caught round his ankle, flipping him through the air before landing him painfully on his back. Before he had the chance to recover, the tentacle struck again. This time stabbing into his stomach and pulling out his intestines like spaghetti.

"We gotta' get some kerosene!" Jameson shouted. He stood up and ran out the door, firing wildly to cover his escape. One lucky shot hit the neck of the tentacle, slowing it just long enough for him to make it to the door. Unbeknown to him however, the thing was detaching Edvard's other arm to run after him.

"Derek wait!" Carter temporarily forgot the flamethrower and ran after his friend, desperate to warn him. At this point though, the tentacle recovered and swung at him once more. The pilot ducked and rolled, taking cover behind a couch. It was only then that he realised that the thing was now between himself and the flamethrower.

"Kate!" He shouted at the only person within the flamethrower's reach. "There's a valve on the side of the nozzle! Hold it open 'till you smell gas, then pull the trigger!"

The thing struck at Carter once more but got jammed in several inches of wood and springs. Instead, Edvard-thing turned its attention to the injured human next to it.

Adam was trying to crawl away but the intense pain was paralysing him and stopping his limbs working in unison. "NO! NO! NO!" He screamed as he saw the thing retracting the tentacle. Scorpion-like legs sprouted from Edvard's torso, much longer and tougher than any human appendage. Screaming that same hellish scream, the thing raised itself up and crawled towards him. "NO! PLEASE NO!" Adam cried again.

The thing was now hovering over him, Edvard's head bent backwards to roar at Adam. It began to lower itself towards him. Adam tried to push it away but acid sweated from its back, burning his skin. With that barrier gone, Adam began to feel his hands melting into the creature.

"KATE! BURN IT! KATE!" Adam wailed.

Kate desperately wanted to help him, but her repair work wasn't finished. This was some kind of nightmare and there was nothing she could do.

As the thing lowered itself towards Adam's face, the American leaned away desperately. But the creature now pressed Edvard's cheek against his. Adam screamed in agony as it burnt itself through his shin once more. First muscle, then teeth, then bone fused together until it was hard to tell where one face ended and the other began.

Finally, the flamethrower spluttered into life. Kate pulled the straps over her shoulders. The tanks felt cumbersome on her petite frame but that didn't bother her. She stood up and fired at the creature, only to discover that it had sensed what she was about to do and fled before the flames could catch, dragging what was left of Adam with it. She rushed out into the hall. The thing was nowhere to be seen.

Returning to the rec room, Kate saw Jonas collapsed against some bookshelves, the arm thing well into the process of absorbing itself into him. The Norwegian was gasping for air, in as much as it's possible to gasp through your nose, and his right eye was blood red and bulging outwards. With his one remaining eye, he silently pleaded with the palaeontologist to kill him. Kate solemnly obliged.

Carter emerged from his hiding place and moved into the corridor, with Kate following behind. The fires were spreading fast now. Clearly, the base wouldn't be any use to anyone much longer. "Jameson?" He shouted "Sander? Colin?"

* * *

Colin piled as much weight as he could against the radio room door. Nobody was getting in here Nobody!

Moving to the other door, he realised too late that it opened outwards, and attempting to barricade an outward opening door would be futile. Hurriedly, he pulled out a strip of spare wire and tied one end to the door handle, the other to a pillar. It would do little to stop the creature but the radio man was fast running out of options.

Colin just wanted to be home, or at least back at Rothera. Even the Falklands would be preferable right now. Just anywhere but trapped at the bottom of the world with a some creature, hiding in the others. Tormenting him until it chose to strike.

He powered up the radio and picked up the mike. "Mayday. Mayday." He said, as loudly as he dared. "Can anyone hear me? Over." No response came. He may as well be trying to signal the TARDIS, but there was no other way he was getting out of this. "This is Thule Station. Do you read me? We found something in the ice. We need help down here. Can anybody hear me? We found something. We found something. We found something!"

* * *

**Author's notes: To answer your first question, that character was supposed to die later but their death had to be re-written due to budget. Matthijs has said in interviews that he was quite disappointed by the loss. Fortunately, this is fan fiction so I'm not restrained by budgetary matters and I can try to re-imagine the scene.**

**The thing sweating acid is probably how it can fuse itself with human flesh. It can't infect through the skin or it would have walked around poking people and the whole base would be infected within an hour. The acid requires it to be more proactive about assimilation.**

**The characters in "The Thing From Another World." do try to baracade an outward opening door at one point. However, they probably did it deliberately as they wanted the thing to come at them from that direction.**


	15. 14-The Battle Of Wits

**Chapter 14: The Battle Of Wits**

With an extinguisher in his hands, Carter cleared a path through the flames and the two of them rushed through into the main section of the building.

"Carter!" Came Jameson's voice, down the hall, and the pilot rushed in its direction, until he saw his friend's face in a small window above one of the doors.

"Hey Carter, I've got one of those things trapped in a box in here! But I think someone's locked me in!" He shouted. "You gota' get this door down!"

"Stand back!" Shouted Cater. He snatched a fire axe from the wall and swung at the area round the door handle. Four hits and a good kick later, the door flew open. Carter rushed into the room, only for his axe to get caught on the door frame, causing him to stumble briefly. The delay saved his life.

Something dropped from the ceiling just in front of the pilot. He yelped in surprise and scrambled back into the corridor. Now he had a better look, he saw what it was. It was Jameson's head, but with huge spider legs sprouted from the sides, carrying it along. No doubt, this was what the thing had used to lure him in.

The thing roared as it scuttled towards them. Kate pushed past Carter and hit it with a jet of flame. It flailed its legs madly but could not escape.

Carter sighed as he watched it burn. All his friends were gone now. And it had been their last season in Antarctica too. Just then, he looked up and saw that Kate had turned the flamethrower to point at him. "He wasn't infected when we got back." He said, putting two and two together. "One of those things must have got to him when he went to get fuel."

"How did you get out of the helicopter?" Kate said sternly. The trust she'd had for him a minute ago now seemed uncertain.

"We crashed once before." Said Carter. "We know how to brace for impact."

"And the thing?"

"We split open a fuel line when we crashed. We just threw in a flare and ran."

"What did you do with Lars?"

Carter noticed that Kate was gazing at his ear. He decided not to question this. "Didn't kill him. He's out cold in one of those sheds."

Kate chewed on his words, while Carter waited anxiously. Finally, she lowered the flamethrower. "If you hadn't handed me this thing, I'd be dead and the monsters would have won. I think I can trust you."

Carter sighed in relief, while the two of them considered their next move. At this point, something down the corridor caught their attention. One by on the lights were going out, plunging the base into complete darkness. Seconds later, the emergency lighting kicked in and one light in four flicked back on, producing a dim light to see by.

"All those fires must have shorted the fuse." Said Kate.

"Or that thing got to the generator." Said Carter. "Either way, fixing it won't do much good. We could get one of the paraffin heaters going."

Kate shook her head. "We have to find these things. Find them and kill them."

Despite everything, the two of them now felt slightly relieved. No more suspicion and paranoia. From now on this would be a straight fight. They only hoped the others could find some ingenious hiding place while they searched.

"With a little luck, there's only two of them left." Said Kate.

"Three." Said Carter. "That was just Jameson's head. So where's the rest of him?"

* * *

The power loss had shut the radio down Colin stood up and tried to think of a new plan. He'd heard Kate and Carter arguing a minute ago and for a second he thought about finding them. But it was only for a second. He knew for a fact that they were infected. So what if she had fillings? He only had her word that that meant anything. It was only him left now. With only the flimsy walls of this room keeping him safe.

Just as he was thinking this, however, he heard a clicking sound from one the far door handle. Followed by a twang as the wire holding it shut snapped like thread. The door swung open to reveal a thing, formed from Edvard's arm, hanging from the frame.

Scuttling like a centipede, the thing moved down the wall, across the floor and onto a waist level partition, rearing up at him.

Colin drew his razor and held it weekly out in front of him. The thing promptly sprouted a collection of claws and stingers, borrowed from some of the deadliest creatures in the universe.

Images flashed through the Englishman's mind of what he'd seen that thing do to Karl. What it had done to Juliet. What it had done to Henrik. Well it wasn't going to do that to him!

Colin pressed the razor into his wrist and drew it across. Blood began to pour from his veins and the radio man gasped in pain.

Beginning to feel feint, he staggered over to the chair, leaving a trail of blood behind him. Once sat down, he brought the razor up to his throat and sliced once more, severing both arteries and windpipe in one.

* * *

Sander searched furiously through Edvard's desk. He had to get to the snowcat keys in the strongbox if he was to escape. There was nothing more he could do here. Even if he were leaving some people behind, he felt little sympathy for them. He could have solved this crisis long ago if he hadn't had to deal with those idiots.

The strongbox keys weren't in the middle draw so he threw open the bottom draw to search there.

Just as he was doing so, the door smashed into a million pieces as a hideous creature charged through, Sander tumbled to the ground.

The thing still maintained a human torso but it was raised up on huge muscley legs, like an enormous scorpion. Edvard and Adam's heads hung from its neck, fused together at the side. It screamed at him through a combined mouth 15cm wide.

Sander crawled away frantically, but there was no way for him to escape and he had no weapon.

"_I KNOW YOU CAN UNDERSTAND ME!"_ He cried. _"THERE MUST BE SOMETHING YOU WANT! TELL ME WHAT YOU WANT!"_

But the thing reared up and prepared to pounce. Clearly, there was only one thing it wanted from him.

"_EDVARD!"_ The biologist screamed. _"ADAM! WE'RE FRIENDS!"_ If he shout anything else, it got drowned out by screams of terror and agony as the thing leapt on him.

* * *

**Author's notes: This was how Jameson would have died in the original script. Personally, I prefer his death in the film as it has a bit more of a human element to it. But then you don't know these things unless you have a point of comparison.**

**Colin's suicide has been voted, by fans, the deleted scene they would most like to see in a director's cut release. And with good reason. I think I speak for a lot of people in saying that, when I saw the 1982 film, his was the story I relay wanted to know and it was disappointing not to be able to see what is effectively his big scene.**

**I'm not certain, at what point his death would have come. Matthijs claims, in an interview I read, that it would have come here. But the deleted scenes, on the DVD, seem to show it later. I selected the former since the latter leaves the arm-thing unaccounted for.**


	16. 15-Split-Face

**Chapter 15: Split-face**

Everything was coming together nicely for the thing now. It had everything it needed to get away and only two of the humans were left to stop it. They would soon be dealt with.

Kate and Carter moved slowly and carefully down the corridor. They'd heard Sander's screams echoing from the far end of the building but dared not rush in that direction. Least they find themselves in another ambush.

Kate took the lead, while Carter acted as rearguard. That way, if it caught them from the back, at least it wouldn't get hold of the flamethrower. The pilot held the axe at the ready. At least it may be useful for beating those things off.

The two of them rounded a corner. There were no emergency lights in this short section, so their torches were all they had to see by.

As they moved forward, they heard something splintering to their right. Shining their torches on the wall they found a hole, six inches across, had been forced through. Carter heard the sound of something scuttling. He swung his torchlight round and saw the arm-thing crawling over the frame and on to the radio room door at head height. Instinctively, he swung the axe, full strength, and hit it a blow powerful enough to split it in two and embed the axe in the door.

The two halves dropped to the floor. But the scuttling sound resumed. Kate and Carter searched frantically with their torches but the sound was coming from two sources now, making it more difficult to find. Finally, they found it. The two halves had run off on their own and anow met up on the far wall. Muscle fibres and blood vessels lashed out from each half and spliced together. Skin and bone formed up, leaving no trace of any harm done.

Kate hit it with the flamethrower. That seemed to do the trick. The arm-thing dropped off the wall, leaving another small fire burning in its place.

The axe was still embedded in the door, the thing's blood coating the handle. Carter reached up to retrieve it.

"No!" Shouted Kate. "Don't touch it." The arm-things had shown her that every part of the creature was alive. There was always the chance of the blood being able to continue the fight if Carter got too close. If only, she could have found this out sooner, they could have used it to identify Edvard for what he really was.

Kate tried the door handle but it wouldn't budge. "We have to get in there." She said. "See if there's any more of it."

Continuing to check every nook and cranny they passed by, the two of them moved over to the lab, hoping to get into the radio room that way.

Finding that door open, Kate moved inside and looked carefully around, not realising that Carter wasn't following her.

Carter had heard something in the chart room, which was adjacent to the lab, and gone to investigate, thinking that Kate was following behind.

Finding nothing in the room, he checked the storage cupboard at the side. There were no emergency lights in here either and shelves full of charts blocked his vision. He had to move deeper in to get a better look.

As he looked, however, the split face thing came bursting through the window. By some incredible feat of reflex, as well as luck, he was able to dodge its leap by a matter of an inch and run out the door.

Carter took off down the corridor. Too late, he realised that he'd run the wrong way and the thing was now between him and Kate, the only person with a flamethrower. Looking back, he saw split-face bursting through the doorway in pursuit.

He rounded a corner and found his way blocked by flames. By now the fires in the east block were a raging inferno. Thinking quickly, he dived through the nearest set of doors, into the kitchen, hoping to evade the thing in there.

Carter grabbed the doors to stop them swinging and backed away, desperately trying to control his breath.

In the corridor, the thing was searching for him. Using its victims' combined senses of smell to sniff out human flesh. Flesh it could convert.

Carter's heart pounded in his chest as he heard the thing's footsteps coming closer. He backed further and further from the door, trying hard not to think about all the things this creature could do to him. His hand brushed across a rack of knives and the pilot grabbed the largest. For all the difference it would make, he may as well have been holding a daffodil, but it helped calm him slightly to have a weapon in his hand.

The thing was close now, he could hear it just outside the door. He backed himself into the larder. Into a narrow gap between the shelves and the wall. Cold sweat was forming on his brow and the knife shook in his hand, he was trembling so much.

The doors swung open and the thing began to move in. Carter was sure that his pounding heartbeat would give him away. He backed deeper into the larder, until he hit solid wall. He had backed into a dead end.

He stared down the row. All he could think was "Please don't let it look down here. Please don't let it look down here." He listened carefully to its footsteps, hoping against hope that it would move the wrong way and he could escape. But every step seemed to bring it closer.

Ahead of him, split-face rounded the end of the shelves. It now had the American in full sights. It was hard to interpret any expression in the scientists' mutilated faces, but Carter could swear that it was snarling in triumph as it prepared to charge.

At just the last second, a jet of flame hit it from the side, as Kate charged into the room.

The thing lit up like a Roman candle. It fled in Carter's direction and he frantically scrambled up the shelves away from it. It ran under him and burst though the wall into the snow.

Kate pursued it and found it trying to extinguish the fire in the snow. But she wasn't going to let it get away again. She hit it a much longer burst, the memories of everyone this creature had slaughtered fuelling her hatred with every second.

"Kate." Said Carter. "That's enough."

Kate calmed herself. She'd still need the fuel for the other things. She watched as the heat radiating from the fire caused the thing sink into the snow. Carter poured two drums of kerosene over it to fuel the flames. He only hoped that would be enough.

* * *

**Author's notes: The kerosene cans by the body (or lack thereof) are probably the most notable continuity error between the two films. Other problems do have solutions if you look carefuly.**


	17. 16-Escape

**Chapter 16: Escape.**

The two remaining humans looked intently round the exterior. The outside lights had gone when the power had but the fire in the main building lit the grounds up in a dim orange glow.

Carter spotted something moving up ahead and got Kate's attention. Jameson's body was calmly walking through the snow. Two antennas, sprouted from its neck, allowed it to see forward. The thing stopped as it reached another shape, which the blizzard made it difficult to see clearly.

As Kate rushed closer, she recognised the second shape. It was Sander, or at least a copy of Sander. The two things were reaching out and forming themselves into one creature.

Seeing Kate charging at it, the half formed thing turned and ran, taking off across the snow and away from the station.

"Stay where you are!" Shouted Kate. She tried to peruse but they quickly vanished into the darkness. She tried to follow its tracks but her weak torchlight made them hard to find and she knew she would never catch the thing at the pace she could move.

"Let it go." Said Carter. "It'll never reach the coast, whatever form it takes. It'll just freeze to death out there."

"And if it doesn't? If it makes it out of here?" Kate replied. "If I show you what Lars did to the snowcats, can you fix it, so we can go after it?"

"Well yeah." Said Carter. "But why? It's got nowhere to go."

"Yes it does." Said Kate, grimly.

* * *

Kate stepped into the shed Carter had directed her to. Sure enough, Lars was lying on the floor, with the keys she would need in his pocket. After checking his pulse and making sure his fillings were still there, Kate lit one of the heaters and threw a sheet over him. With a little luck, that would keep him warn until he came to, or rescue arrived.

She returned to the garage, where she found Carter reconnecting the fuel injectors. "You done?" She said.

"Almost." Carter replied. "You got the keys?"

Kate handed them to him.

"What about Colin?" Carter asked. "We haven't found him yet."

"I found him in the radio room." Said Kate. "He cut his throat before it could get to him. He wasn't infected though. I checked."

Before Carter could ask how she'd checked, Kate went to fetch the back of the garage. She returned stuffing several grenades into her pockets.

Carter spliced the final cables and closed the cover. He turned the key and the machine roared into life. With Kate in the passenger seat, the two of them set off after the thing.

* * *

"There's something I don't understand." Said Carter. "Why didn't it do this sooner?"

Kate thought for a moment. "It probably wanted to get out on your helicopter. It could have taken over the world and no-one would have noticed. This way It'll have a fight on its hands. Once we found it out, it can't have had the opportunity. Until now."

The snowcat's powerful spotlights gave them a clear view of the thing's tracks as they moved along. The blizzard had covered up those closest to the camp but it was less than a mile before they came into view. At first, they saw two sets of human tracks, side by side. Carter smiled in relief at the knowledge that they would be able to catch it quickly in this state. However, as they moved on, the tracks merged in to one. The footprints became wider and further apart. Clearly, the thing was transforming into something much faster.

"Shit." Said the pilot. "Who can stop something like this?"

"We can." Kate replied "It's somehow landed in the one place on the planet where we might stand a chance of containing it. You don't suppose there could be more out there?" She considered, looking to the skies.

"I hope not." Said Carter.

Just as Kate had predicted, the tracks led them away from the camp and into a chasm in the side of a glacier.

Kate and Carter climbed out. Since Kate had the grenades, Carter took the flamethrower so that neither of them would be left unarmed this time.

They moved underground very carefully. Though the tunnel had never been well lit, Kate felt much more aware of the darkness than she had the first time she'd been there. Carter was no less frightened, he knew that the thing could easily be waiting for them here. Whenever the tunnel sloped downwards, they were afraid of falling and sliding helplessly into the jaws. Whenever they climbed over a chasm, or passed a gap in the walls, they were afraid that it may have taken the opportunity to set an ambush.

Despite their fears, the tunnel remained empty, and they made it to the main chamber unharmed. Either the thing was unaware of their pursuit of it just didn't think they were worth bothering with.

Finding the portable generator Edvard had placed in there, Kate turned it on, the lights came on and rapidly brightened, illuminating the spaceship fully. She watched as Carter's mouth opened in awe, having never seen it before.

"The hatch is open." Said Kate, pointing to the centre of the ship. "We have to get there fast."

They climbed onto its surface and walked towards the hatch, over a series of ridges.

They were about half way when they began to hear a series of whirs and clanks as the ship below them sprang to life. To their right, a series of huge vents on the surface of the craft were swinging open. Before they could process this in their minds, they heard the sound of something behind them grinding into life. The ridges they were standing on were also vents and they were swinging open like huge office blinds, starting at the outside and working inwards.

"Run!" Screamed Kate.

They sprinted for the centre, as fast as they could. Carter was the faster runner and pulled ahead, with Kate just behind. The palaeontologist looked back and saw the vents getting steadily closer. The walkway around the main hatch was only three ridges away now, but the floor beneath them was starting to rise under their feet.

As the penultimate flap reached a 45 degree tilt, Carter pushed himself up onto the rim and leapt over on to the rim of the next, using it as a stepping stone to reach the walkway.

Kate tried to follow but fell short by inches. She grabbed on to the final flap, to stop herself falling, but it was near vertical now and she couldn't haul herself up. The rounded edge was proving too difficult to grip.

"Carter!" She called frantically.

The pilot tried to help but the gap between them was too wide and he couldn't reach her.

Kate could feel her fingers slipping. Little by little her weight was dragging her down. She let go with one hand and tried to quickly gain a better hold, but that just caused her to lose grip with her other hand.

"KATE!" Carter roared as he watched her disappearing into the darkness of the interior. He desperately wanted to go after her but couldn't. Not when there was no certainty that where she was falling was safe. All he could do was continue towards the hatch and hope that she would be alright.

* * *

**The climax of the film was heavily re-written in a few places. As with the burn pit scene, I'm trying to use the best of both versions.**

**As to how Kate could have worked out that Colin was human. Either she found a piercing somewhere or she worked out the blood test. The alternative is that she left Colin and Lars unaccounted for, not a mistake she'd make. Just a theory.**


	18. 17-Inside The Spaceship

**Chapter 17: Inside The Spaceship**

Kate didn't know how long she'd been lying there. Every part of her body felt sore and it took a lot of effort to haul herself into a seated position.

She'd landed roughly on a narrow metallic walkway in an enormous, dimly lit, room, all around her, she could hear the whirr of machinery and the steady clank of enormous gears and cranks moving into position. This, she realised must be the engine room.

To one side of the walkway, Kate saw a huge metallic structure, in the shape of a triple helix twisting and turning around, somehow containing a mass of blue energy, shooting upwards through the ceiling. A colossal roaring echoed around the walls, like the sound of a rocket booster.

Kate reminded herself that she wasn't here to admire the engineering. She had to find the thing before it could take off. She pulled herself to her feet and went to find the way out.

Kate felt in her pockets for the torch and found them empty. Everything had spilled out during the fall. Including the grenades. She peered around in the gloom and spotted its shape lying not far from her. To her utter delight, it wasn't broken. By its light, she searched for the grenades but could only find one, the others having rolled off the ledge. She hoped this one would be enough.

Above her was the passageway she'd slid down but it was clearly too steep to climb back up. "Carter?" She shouted but got no response. She'd be on her own from now on.

* * *

Carter was just stepping into the hatch when he heard all the circular covers on the surface irising open. The engines extruded themselves outwards and began to blast heat up towards the icy roof of the chasm. Rain began to fall in the chamber and huge chunks of ice came crashing down, one by one.

The pilot turned his attention away and climbed into the ship.

The interior was nothing like the brightly lit sets of most sci-fi films. Everything he could see looked cold and metallic. Everything was lit, in a dim gray light, but he could see no evidence of lighting. It was almost as if the light was emanating from the walls. Perhaps the most alien aspect of the ship was the complete absence of flat surfaces. Everything was wavy and curved. Even the floor was formed of a series of ridges and arched up in the middle.

Using the base flame of the flamethrower to get a better view, Carter set off in search of Kate and of the thing. Whoever had built this ship didn't seem to have signposted the way, and he doubted they'd speak English anyway, leaving him with no idea what to do now.

Just then, he something moving up ahead. Given the way everything echoed in here, it could be on the other side of the ship. But he followed it anyway, hoping it would lead him somewhere useful.

* * *

In another part of the ship, Kate moved carefully along the corridor, peering through every passageway she passed. Most of the rooms contained equipment far beyond her understanding, although she was pretty sure she spotted a kitchen at one point.

She came to one particularly large room and stopped to have a look. All around the room lay what appeared to be cages. All of them opened. All of them empty. On the far wall were five glass tubes, the walls of each heavily iced up. The tube in the centre seemed to have been smashed open.

But Kate was in too much of a hurry to consider the significance of this find. Finding nothing living in the room, she moved on.

* * *

Up above, the melting ice was raining down faster than ever. Some of the water had collected around the ship, before the intense heat boiled it into steam. The steam filled the chamber, before escaping through the rapidly widening hole in the roof. Soon, the whole ship would be free.

* * *

Kate spotted something up ahead in the corridor. As she got closer, she realised what it was. It was the charred body of something huge. For one wonderful moment, she thought Carter must have caught the thing. But then she realised that the ashes had gone cold. Clearly, it had been here a long time. Something in the region of 100,000 years.

It all made sense now. The thing's race hadn't built this ship. Whoever had must have picked it up from a planet somewhere, presumably for zoological research. The thing had broken out and taken over the crew, along with any live specimens they had in the cages she'd seen earlier, just as it had taken over her friends at The Thule Station.

On one level, this was comforting since it meant that there were no more of these things ready to invade. But, on another, this was alarming. Up to now, she'd only been thinking about the threat it posed to Earth. But it had knowledge of interstellar travel now. Why would it stop there? It could build huge fleets of these ships and spread out into the cosmos. The aliens here clearly hadn't been able stop it any better than human beings were. It was unlikely that any race would. All the life she'd envisaged, when she looked to the stars, would be extinguished if they couldn't stop this thing here.

Kate spotted a light emanating from a room ahead. Quite different from the grey light, which seemed to blanket everything else. She stepped through into a moderately sized room. Six harness-like frames, hung from the ceiling, were arranged around a huge column of light, within which, hundreds of shapes, like large three dimensional Tetris blocks, were suspended. The blocks were rearranging themselves, from one tessellated formation to the next. As they did so, they were each changing colour too, producing a brilliant display of blues and yellows.

This, Kate theorised, could be the central computer. This room did appear like a bridge after all. Which would mean that the thing would be coming here soon.

The palaeontologist turned away to investigate the rest of the room, but leapt back in horror as she spotted some hideous monster hanging from one of the frames, round the far side of the column. It was vaguely humanoid in shape but its skin was blueish-grey and rubbery. Its limbs were disproportionately long and thick for its body and seemed to end in a collection of worm-like tentacles.

But it was the head which really unnerved her. It was perched on the end of a long, curved neck. Its eyes were vertically arranged in the centre of its face, staring coldly at her.

She was only glad that it was as dead as the remains she'd found in the hallway. Her expertise with frozen specimens allowed her to see the shrunken nature of its skin, indicating that it had been frozen for several millennia. Kate spotted a bar of some kind which the creature had rammed through its neck. It must have been from the race that had built the ship. Like Colin, it had have killed itself before the thing could get to it. Perhaps it had even steered the ship into the nearest icecap to stop the thing taking control.

Kate tore her eyes away and moved back towards the doorway. As she did so however, she heard something moving out of the shadows. She spun around and saw the thing, which had taken the form of the alien pilot, towering over her.

* * *

**Author's notes: I'm told that the alien pilot from the original ending was designed to be a tribute to the thing's original form in Who Goes There? (which bears little resemblance to its form in the Whitman Publishing adaptation.) Interestingly, even in Who Goes There, Blair notes that the form it takes could just be some other species it's assimilated.**

**There are some photos of this original design on the Thule Station website, if you would like a better look.**


	19. 18-The Final Confrontation

**Chapter 18: The Final Confrontation**

Before Kate had time to respond, the thing swiped at her with its massive arm, knocking her to the ground. The grenade flew out of her hands and disappeared down a maintenance shaft.

Kate scrambled away from the thing on all fours, as fast as she could. She glanced back and saw the thing's face reforming before her eyes. Reshaping itself into the form of Sander's face.

"You can't stop me, Kate." It said. "I'll always survive."

Sander-thing charged. Kate, with nowhere else to go, threw herself down the maintenance shaft. The narrow tunnel she found herself in sloped steeply downwards and the palaeontologist used this to gain some distance from the creature.

Before long, however, she reached a fork in the tunnels and was slammed roughly into the far wall. Behind her, she could hear a rattling sound as the thing came after her, morphing itself into a longer thinner shape in order to fit down the passageway. Faced with two ways to go, Kate blindly chose the passage to the right. Ten feet later, she regretted her decision as she ran into a grate. No, this couldn't be happening. Kate screamed and hammered furiously on its surface but it wouldn't budge.

Behind her, the thing's fingers were creeping round the corner. Kate pressed herself against the end of the tunnel and held her breath, but it was too much to hope that it would find her. How could life have brought her to this point so quickly? Only three days ago, she'd been sitting in a cafe in New York and her only real concern was rent. And now, she was cornered by some hideous monster from outer space. Knowing that, any second now, she would feel those tendrils burrowing their way through her skin. Infecting her body.

But they never did. The thing's finger's fumbled for a few seconds, as though they'd overextended themselves. Finally, they disappeared. The same rattling sound echoed down the passage as the thing withdrew. This made no sense. True, the thing could be suffering coordination problems extending its arm so far but why give up?

Whatever the reason, she had to do something before it tried anything else. She spotted the grenade, which had come to rest just inside the other passageway, and crawled over to retrieve it. As she passed the intersection in the tunnels, however, the thing screamed at her from barely a foot away. It had never withdrawn, it had simply detached part of itself to lure her into an ambush. Desperately, she flung herself forward. The thing grabbed her leg to slow her down but the grenade was within her reach now. If she could just get a better grip...

The two halves of the thing joined up and Kate felt it yanking her, screaming, back up the passageway. Once out, it tossed her across the floor and slammed her into a wall. Sander's face was gone now, replaced with a single huge fanged mouth. It advanced on her. Preparing to swallow her whole. The palaeontologist had given it a lot of trouble and it wasn't going to make this pleasant for her.

Little did it realise that Kate had managed to get hold of the grenade once again. As the thing roared at her, she flung the canister down its throat. It flailed wildly but couldn't reform fast enough to remove the grenade.

One of the great heroes of cinema might have used this opportunity to utter some last great taunt, but Kate had more important things on her mind, like how to get away from this thing, as fast as possible.

"KATE!" Roared Carter, appearing at the door. "THIS WAY!" The two of them fled the room.

Behind them an explosion sounded in the thing's stomach, blasting it into a million pieces and incinerating the remains. The force of the explosion took out the central computer and set off a chain reaction. All over the ship, energy shields and flow regulators malfunctioned, setting off a series of explosions of increasing magnitude.

Another shockwave roared along the corridor, lifting Kate and Carter up and flinging them 20 feet through the air. Her body felt numb to pain by now and she very quickly got up again. Ahead of her was the ladder leading back up the hatch and she sprinted for it madly.

The two of them emerged from the hatch and ran back across the surface ship. All around, explosions continued to blast small holes in the hull of the ship. Only by some miracle, did they get back to the ice tunnel before anything could explode beneath their feet. Above them, the roof of the chasm was gone. They were now stood in an open crater, with a full view of the stars above. Just few minutes more and the thing would have been free.

Kate and Carter finally emerged, exhausted, from the tunnel. Unable to believe that they'd survived. To the north east, the sun was rising, casting a thin light across the snowy plains.

"What are we gona do now?" Said Kate.

"There's a Russian base about 50 miles that way." Said Carter, pointing. "We should have enough gas."

Carter climbed back into the snowcat's driver's seat. He pulled off the flamethrower and placed it on the seat next to him. As he did, he noticed that Kate had paused at the passenger door. Once more, she seemed to be staring at his ear, looking worried about something.

"We're going to make it back, ok?" He said.

Kate nodded in agreement. "I'll just put this in the back." She said, picking up the flamethrower. "It'll be safer there."

"OK." Said Carter. He turned his attention to the controls. After powering up the engine, he flicked some switches to ensure all the systems were running properly. Just then he thought of something. "If you have any grenades left, you should probably put them with it."

"Is that why you haven't killed me?" Said Kate "You thought I'd take you with me."

Carter looked over and saw that the palaeontologist had strapped the flamethrower to her back once more. And now she was pointing it straight at him.

"Kate?" He said. "Kate. What are you doing?"

"Do you know how I knew you were human, back at camp?"

"I thought we'd already been through this..."

"Your earring. It can't replicate inorganic matterial."

Carter reached for his ear to check.

"It was your other ear." Said Kate, sadly. His mistake adding strength to her suspicions. The thing had had plenty of time to ambush him in the ship. Somehow, the earring had got lost in the process. Perhaps it hadn't finished assimilating and didn't have all his memories.

"Kate. Now stop this." Said Carter, thinking desperately for a way to talk his way out of this situation. "Clothes!" He said finally. "How could it replicate me without destroying them?"

"Same way it took over Jonas." Said Kate. "Through the head."

Carter struggled hard to think of another defence. "Kate..!" was all he managed.

Kate stared him in the eye, knowing how little she had to go on. She just wished Carter would thing out or scream at her or just generally do something to eliminate the doubt from her mind. But the thing must know that if it did, she'd burn it. She struggled hard to stop herself trembling at what she may have to do.

"Kate!" Carter cried again.

Cold logic won out in the end. Too much was at stake if she left this up to chance. If there was even the slightest possibility of him being an imitation, she had to burn him.

"KATE!" Carter roared, more desperately than ever.

Kate pulled the trigger.

"NOOOOOO!" Carter screamed as his body lit up.

Kate walked away from the burning vehicle. She would never know if she was right. She tried to tell herself that his agonized screams sounded inhuman but knew that her exhausted mind could simply be willing this into existence. She tried hard not to think about this.

She'd had to do it though. Saving the universe had to come at a price. Besides which, she'd almost certainly taken herself with it. With no map, she would struggle to find this Russian camp. She didn't even know if it existed, since she may not be able to trust Carter's words. And her chances of even trying to get there depended on her ability to walk back to Thule, with no guidance, fix the remaining snowcat, all while exhausted from the night's events.

She looked towards the rising sun. It would be dark again by the time she made it back to the station.

* * *

**Author's notes: Not the last chapter (as you probably know.)**

**This is the explanation Matthijs has given in interviews as to how the thing could have taken over Carter without tearing his clothes. This is backed up by the 1982 film, in which you twice see the thing assimilate someone in this way (I won't say who since I have some friends reading who haven't seen the films yet.) Nonetheless, I did find myself asking the same question when I first saw the film.**


	20. Epilogue

**Epilogue: The Fight Goes On**

Matias hated flying solo. The 1500km journey from McMurdo was exhausting at the best of times and the lack of company made it hard to stay awake. The weather certainly wasn't helping either. The pilot would like to have waited for better conditions before flying but the official start of winter was only a few hours away. After which, it would be very difficult to get this flight approved. Knowing how important the kerosene he carried was to the running of the base, he'd seized a gap in the storm and run with it.

As the sun came up, Matias was glad to see the faint outline of The Thule Station up ahead. He turned his attention to the instruments. Gusts were at their most unpredictable near the ground and it made sense to carefully monitor the helicopter's systems. He glanced up occasionally, to make sure he was going the right way. The pilot was too focused on flying to pay much attention but something in these glimpses was bothering him. He'd worry about that in a minute. Finally, he brought the craft in to land. The contact light came on and the Norwegian powered down the rotors.

It was only upon stepping out that Matias realised what had been bothering him during landing. The camp was in ruins. The entire east wing of the main building lay in rubble. To one end, flames were still dancing in the sad remainder of the building. Much of what was left standing seemed to have been gutted by similar fires. Wreckage was strewn all over the site.

_"Hello!?"_ Shouted the pilot. _"Hello, is there anyone that can hear me!?"_

He spotted a shape lying in the snow ahead of him that looked like a man. With a great effort, he forced himself to have a better look. Immediately leaping back in horror. The body was human shaped, charred and twisted in agony, but atop its shoulders were what appeared to be two heads, but with no distinction between them, almost as if the fire had melted them together or someone had performed hideous mutilations.

_"Is anybody here?"_ Matias roared, looking desperately around the site. _" Edvard! Anybody! Please!"_

What could possibly have happened here? What was he going to tell the authorities if he couldn't find anyone? There had to be a survivor somewhere. There just had to be!

As Matias tried to think what to do next, a gunshot sounded to his left, the bullet landing at his feet. The Norwegian instinctively put his hands up and turned to face the sound, where he saw Lars marching out of one of the sheds, brandishing the largest rifle in the weapons locker at him.

_"Lars?"_ Matias shouted. _"Lars, it's me God damn it."_

But Lars paid no attention. _"Open your mouth."_ He said simply.

_"What?"_ Said Matias.

_"OPEN IT NOW!"_ The dog-handler roared, jabbing the gun right in his friend's face.

The pilot quickly opened his mouth as wide as possible while Lars stared in. Seemingly satisfied by what he saw, he lowered his gun. But he continued to look nervously around the ruins.

Matias hesitated to bring his hands down. He was uncertain of Lars's mental stability. The former soldier had spent most of his life in cold, remote environments and just wasn't the sort who would murder all the others out of cabin fever. He couldn't be responsible for what had happened. Some incredible disaster had hit the base in the last few days, bringing utter destruction and somehow terrifying Lars out of his mind.

_"Lars."_ He said nervously. _"Lars, what happened?"_

Lars paused for a moment, trying to think of any way of describing the enormity of the thing's attack and the chaos that had transpired.

In the event, he never got the chance as he spotted something moving behind Matias. Crawling out of the one of the remaining buildings, it spotted him, turned and took off across the snow. It looked and sounded exactly like Jeb. But Lars was under no illusions as to its true nature.

Without a second's hesitation, Lars shouldered his rifle and opened fire. He wasn't a bad marksman, by any means, but fatigue and concussion had taken a lot out of him and his shots missed by centimetres.

_"That's no dog!"_ He gasped, before turning to Matias. _"START THE HELLICOPTER NOW!"_

Deciding to just go with things for now, Matias scrambled back into the cockpit and powered up the engine. Lars, meanwhile, ran into the garage, coming out seconds later with a wooden box in his arms and climbing into the passenger seat.

Matias paused for a few moments, waiting for Lars to close the door. But Lars had no intention of doing so.

_"Get it up now! Come on! Come on!"_ Lars shouted. Matias reluctantly complied.

* * *

After several hours frantic searching, Lars finally found the thing, running across the plains, and gestured madly for the pilot to fly low above it.

Ahead and below, the thing turned to snarl at the pursuing helicopter. It turned and jumped forward just as a shell exploded at its heels. The sound of the shot was quickly swallowed by the constant, uncaring wind.

With one leg resting on the skids, Lars leaned out and tried to get a better aim. It didn't help that flying this slowly and this close to the ground was shaking the machine badly. An inspector would have recommended revocation of Matias's licence on the spot, had he attempted this manoeuvre anywhere else. But Lars was shouting furiously to keep trying.

Every few seconds, the wind would catch the chopper, throwing it sideways through the sky and threatening to throw the mechanic out. But Lars no longer cared about personal safety. He had to stop this thing before it reached the next base. Whatever it cost him.

* * *

**Author's notes: The last few paragraphs quote a lot of sentences from Alan Dean Foster's excellent novelisation of the Carpenter film, it is supposed to be the same scene after all. (If asked, I will re-write them.)**

**And this is where we leave off. This has been a lot of fun to write. I hope it's been fun to read. I particularly hope I may have improved some opinions of the prequel, which ultimately is a very tense and exciting film. It's not as good as the 1982 film, but then neither are most films.**

**Thank you to everyone who's posted reviews, it lets me know people are reading.**


End file.
